10 Year Sacrifice
by Rylee.kai
Summary: Instead of losing the Castle of Lions Lance decides to sacrifice himself. What does his sacrifice do to the crew? Is he really dead? (lol no). What happens is the anomaly happening ten years later? Yes, Klance. I have an idea of where to go, but can't tell if I am going to keep writing... Thanks 3
1. Chapter 1

I ran down to the teludav chamber where I found Coran and Pidge working away, they had to set the teludav to overload.

"Lance what are you doing, you should be helping pack up with the others," Coran said, he was literally jumping from console to console.

"It's okay Coran I know how to help," I said, jumping to a console next to him. Pidge and Coran both eyed suspiciously at first, but when they saw I actually did know what I was doing they resumed. Surprise I wasn't completely useless, and I was also going to save the castle for Coran and Allura, and well everyone else too.

It happened one night, I had been wandering the castles in the dead of night when the mice squeaked, telling me they had something important to show me. I followed them, mistakenly, because I fell down a massive vent which never seemed to end.

I landed on my ass hard, but found myself overwhelmed. I was in a workshop, like an ancient lab workshop. Blueprints and science and math decorated every single wall. I spent hours just admiring everything in the workshop. It was until I got a text from Hunk asking if I was coming to breakfast that I realized I had spent five hours in the workshop. There was a ladder leading up to the vent I had fallen through, turns out where I had fallen through was just some random nook with a vent on the twentieth floor of the castle.

I didn't tell anyone about my discovery, a little selfishly, but because everyone had something they could do, something they were supposed to do, something that contributed to the team. I did not, so the workshop was my safe haven. I learned all sorts of secrets about Altean machinery and inventions, I later came to realize it was shared workshop between Coran's grandfather, father, and King Alfor himself. The designs for the lions even lay hidden in the workshop, and it made sense, why the space was a secret.

It honestly hurt my heart not to share it with Coran and Allura, but I figured until I knew more I would keep it a secret. I stumbled across journals kept by the both of them, and would read them. All three of them had so much love for their families and for Altea, it hurt and pained him to read through some of the entries. Especially the ones where Alfor begins sensing deceit with his best friend, Zarkon. The ones where Coran's father talks about his father's death and passing as well as the one where he talks about his son's birth.

Though none of that was important right now, what was important was the failsafe Coran's ancestors put into place for the most dangerous part of the ship, the teladuv. If the correct code and passwords were entered the teladuv would seal itself off and eject.

I knew what I had to do.

"Pidge go get all your computer and nerd gear packed, we all know your room is a mess," I shouted, she grumbled in agreement, double checking everything on her end was good before running off.

Perfect now he just had to get rid of Coran, but how. The workspace!

"Coran there is somewhere on the ship you need to see before the castle is sacrificed," I said trailing off, knowing I was lying to him, but it was for the best. I just hoped my memory would hold up and remember the code.

Coran looked over at me suspiciously, "I know everywhere on this castle my boy, so I do not know what you speak of."

"Coran trust me, I accidently fell into this vent on the twentieth floor of the castle, right across from painting, the big painting of the juniberry field. Go into it, it's your grandfather's workspace, you need to see it. I can handle this, it should be ready in ten doboshes, so seriously hurry," I said, please, please work.

"A workspace? My grandfather's? How long have you known about this?" Coran said coming up to me.

"Coran now is not really the time, I have known about it for a little while, I am sorry for keeping it from you, but go," I said pushing him towards the door, he nearly fell over, but when he caught the sincerity in my eyes he ran. Ten doboshes was not a lot of time for him to discover a passage way he never knew about especially one that belonged to his father and father before him and best friend.

"Well now that they have been taken care of, here goes nothing," I said before quickly buzzing myself with the buttons and controls. I entered it certain codes here and there, it was a foolproof code, with a variety of steps, after all you didn't want to accidentally get rid of your teladuv.

Seven minutes of me trying to remember the next steps correct and getting the processors to understand what I was doing. Finally a big code popped up on the main screen. I knew exactly what it was, but I didn't know how to spell it.

I opened up a communication channel with Coran, "Hey Coran…"

"Lance...thank you," I could hear the tears.

"Don't thank me yet, but real fast, could you spell your middle names for me?" I asked, hopefully the random comment wouldn't throw him too off guard.

"Coran Hieronymus H-i-e-r-o-n-y-m-u-s Wimbleton W-i-m-b-l-e-t-o-n Smythe," he muttered out, perfect, he was completely entranced in the glory of the workshop as I entered his name into the code.

"Yes!" I yelled as the screen turned green and read _Initializing Teladuv Removal_.

"Wait, why did I just spell my name for- Lance, what are you doing? Lance, no- What do you think are doing? You can't do this! If the teladuv begins ejection protocol you won't be able to leave, that's why my father wrote it in this book and stashed it away, because whoever needed to do eject the teladuv would be removed with it," Coran rambled out faster than I could even process, but I already knew all that.

"I know Coran, and for the record, the ejection sequence has already started," I said, leaning my back against the teladuv doors.

"Lance-" Coran started, but didn't finish.

"It's okay Coran, you always put everyone over you, you were always there to protect us, to be our loving Uncle or Grandfather depending on your mood. It's about damn time you put your feelings first and hold onto this castle, the only thing you have left of your family and of Altea," I said, I could feel the tears begin to well in my eyes. I knew what all of this meant, because not only was the teladuv going to explode, but the teladuv was going to launch itself into rift in space-time reality to collapse it. "Coran in my room, there is a recorder I kept in the desk drawer it's hidden in a sock, you all can listen to it, and if you ever get back to Earth, please get it to my family."

Oh there were the tears, they were fortunately silent.

"Of course my boy, but I think you owe the rest of the crew a goodbye," Coran said, he was right. I switched over to the main comm line, it was dead silent. I swallowed hard. The screen popped up a countdown, well two of them. One represented the separation from the castle and the other represented time of overload. A screen on the other side showed video screens showing the descent of the teladuv and gave me piloting options. I adjusted them, straight for the center of the largest rift.

"Everyone-" I started, but I choked in the process. Where even was I supposed to start?

"Don't worry Lance I got Kaltenecker on Blue already," Hunk shouted, he also solemn.

"I have the videogames on mine, sorry Lance, boring ride for you," Pidge laughed.

I felt my heart sink. My two best friends, my original crew. I was going to miss them.

"Wait no seriously, everyone stop," I said, I pushed through the lump in my throat, they deserved to know. I owed my team the truth.

"Lance we don't have time for this, we only have like six more stable doboshes to get out of here," Keith said, hearing his voice filled me with sorrow, I hadn't even had a chance to really talk to him yet, he was gone for so long, well longer for him than us. He had become one of my best friends on this crew. We had grown from always fighting to playful teasing to best friends. I could trust him with my life, hopefully he trusts me with his.

"I have to agree, Coran where are you? I needed to set the final coordinates on the castle for the center of the rifts," Allura said, she sounded so strong, even after all she had been through. I was grateful that I ever even had the chance to meet her. I may have playfully flirted with her and fallen in love with her hope for peace, but I knew I never had a chance with her, but even having the opportunity to know her and to call her a friend was more than enough.

"Coran what are you doing?" Allura suddenly shouted, sounding strained.

"Hey what's going on?" Keith shouted.

"Coran is moving the ship away from the rift," Allura said confused.

"We need to get as far away as possible," Coran said, the cries still in his heart.

"But the rifts?" Pidge said confused, she had just been working her ass off down here.

"Lance!" Coran yelled, it was strained, pained. It hurt.

"The rifts are going to close, don't worry. The teladuv is going to eject itself from the castle in a dobosh, and then fly into the largest rift and explode," I said, keeping my voice steady and calm, I couldn't break, not in front of them.

"I didn't realize it could do that, why did Coran say we need to fly the castle of lions into it?" Hunk said.

"Because only Lance knew," Coran said.

"Coran what's wrong?" Allura said, concern in her voice echoed hard, reverberating in my ears and gut.

"Lance, there's a catch isn't there?" Keith said, his voice completely steeled and monotoned. He had aged so much, two years huh? I wish I could get to know the more sophisticated and refined Keith, even if it's only a bit more. I wish I could get to his mom and his dog, but I was just glad he finally had a family, and now Shiro was going to be okay.

"Allura, bring peace to the universe and bring your people home. Coran remember what I told you. Tell Shiro that no matter what he said to me, he will always be my hero. Pid-" I was rushing through it fast, not wanting to make it last any longer than it needed to.

"Lance you better shut up right now and get in your lion," Pidge responded before I could finish her name.

"Pidge I can't wait to see all you do with that big brain of yours," I choked, shit. Keep it together. Pidge was like my little sister, it hurt so much, knowing I was saying goodbye.

"La-Lance I swear to god, if you don't come into this hangar in the next five ticks I am going to end you," she yelled through tears, and the damn pushed hard, but I felt it back.

"Hunk-"

"Don't Lance, don't do this," Hunk gritted out, I had never heard him sound so angry and serious before.

"Hunk, you better keep making garlic knots, and spreading sunshine and love, I will never forget you, you are my best friend, we've had each other's backs since day one, keep braving the world, you showed me not to let my fear ever get the best of me," I said, my heart pounded and my mouth was going dry.

"K-"  
"This isn't funny Lance," he said back, but there was no real bark in his voice.

"If you still have a mullet after two years then it is still funny, but I am glad you finally get a happy ending, don't let go of your family, and I am not just talking about your mom and dog and Shiro. Look around you, you have a family," I looked up and the ticks finished counting, a gentle unclasp and suddenly I was moving, the whole teladuv was. I felt the lack of gravity begin to push me around, I activated my boots.

"Lance, there's so much I never got to say to you," Keith yelled, I could hear him panting. "You are already gone you stupid idiot, you stupid stupid idiot."

I heard banging, he must have been banging on the doors where the teladuv used to be.

"Lance, we can't defend the universe without you," Allura said, she had been silent, and I know I knew why, a strained voice was more than enough to say she had been crying.

"Please, you all were always so much better at it," I said trying to laugh, it was true, but it still hurt, and here I was about to end my entire existence still hurting about never comparing to the others.

"You can't seriously be doing this, get out of there, you have to, you have to come back to us, we need you," Pidge yelled, her words came out broken and choppy.

"Pidge please, you don't need me for anything, you could take over the entire universe if you wanted to, probably overnight," I said. I could hear her laugh or cough or both? I wasn't sure.

"Lance, I just want you to know, that you were my buddy, my best friend in the whole world, and you might be immature or laugh at the wrong times and flirt with way too many people and be an idiot, but I would never give up having you as a friend," Hunk said, and I let out a choked sob. I watched the time tick by faster, the comms started to crackle on my end, I was getting closer and closer to the rift.

"Team Voltron, no, Voltron family, I love you all so much," I let the dam break, but it didn't matter, in seconds the comms would go out completely. I heard love you's and hate you's come back through the static.

This was it, but I didn't see it as a heroic sacrifice demanding remembrance or a holiday, no this was a chance to give happiness and a future to my friends and family.

"Goodbye."


	2. Chapter 2

We gathered in the bridge, watching as Lance give away his life for the rest of us. For me losing Lance was far worse than the place that had been their home for the past year, but that selfish Keith talking. I knew how much the castle meant to Coran and Allura and how important it was for our lions and safety.

Plus there was nothing they could have done, by the time we realized what was happening the teladuv had already detached.

Someone squeezed my shoulder, I turned, it was my mother, jumping back into the life of Voltron almost let me forget that she was here. I leaned into her for comfort, we had been through so much in the Quantum Abyss, but that didn't compare to how I felt watching my best friend sacrifice himself. Plus mom knew, I told her my feelings for the dumbass idiot who I always seemed to pick a fight with, but how I loved it.

Hunk was holding Pidge tightly, hiding her tears, she hated crying in front of people, and the only one's she ever really cried around her Hunk and Lance and now she watched someone she considered a brother fly into his own demise. Hunk was outwardly crying, a lot, we all knew how close those two were. I felt bad thinking I was in pain as I watched the two of them cling to each other as they watched their third musketeer fly off without them.

Allura had leaned into Coran's shoulder, both were crying, I was surprised to see Allura crying as hard as she had been, I wondered if something happened between the two of them while he was gone? Or maybe just as our space mom she took the loss of one of hers hard.

Coran was a softie at heart, but I always noticed he and Lance had a special connection. It all started back when Lance saved Coran from that explosion, putting himself in a coma.

Lance...always putting people in front of himself. I wish I could have told him how I really felt. How much I really loved him.

I could hear Red and Blue start to howl, followed by the rest of the lions, my heart sunk.

A bright light blinded us, that was it, he was gone, and suddenly the ship was spinning, oh stars I was going to be sick.

"Is everyone alright?" Allura's voice, I lifted my head, what just happened? I realized I was leaning against my wolf my mom on the other side, but we were leaning against the main window of the Castle of Lions. I remember what happened.

Pidge had already readjusted and was in her chair scanning the space before us, and I looked. It was normal. Completely normal. Absolutely nothing, just endless black volume with twinkling stars.

"He did it, it's closed, everything is back to normal," Coran said stealing the attention to him, who was also running graphics, but Pidge was still working, typing furiously. As if the harder she pressed her fingers into the keyboard the faster it would give her the answers she wanted, and we all knew what the answers she wanted her.

"What the hell?" she screamed startling everyone, Hunk walked towards here and the wolf helped my mom and I down back the floor. "He isn't anywhere, no nothing, zero readings from his suit, look."

She pulled up the last readings from the suit, there was a sound recording, heart rate monitor, brain function monitor and temperature monitor. I watched as the heart and brain monitors functioned normally before ending, not even a flat line or blimp they just stop. The temperature one shows incredible fluctuations before similarly coming to a startling halt. The sound frequency came up, Pidge boosted the volume.

"And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,

there will be an answer, let it be.

For though they may be parted, there is still chance that they will see

There will be an answer, let it be-"

Oh the Beatles can fuck off. I thought, I ran out the room, I wasn't sure where I was going, but only Lance would take his final sacrificing moments to perfectly sing the most wholesome treasured song. What a big fucking ass. I hated him. And he was gone.

I heard the door hiss open, Pidge walked in, she was wearing a jacket that didn't fit her, that was because it was one of Lance's jackets. Hunk followed shortly after holding garlic knots.

"Only Lance would sing 'Let it Be' before flying into a damn rip in space," Pidge said sitting herself on top of me. I had buried my face in the pillows, in Lance's bed, in Lance's smells. Hunk quitely offered me a garlic knot, which I took, not because I was hungry but because Lance would want me to. He sat near my feet.

We stayed like that, completely silent for a while.

The door hissed again.

"Allura is caring for Shiro right now, I figured you might want to know," Coran said, but I couldn't move, not just because Pidge was sitting on me, but because every part of my body ached with loss.

"Coran when did he tell you he was doing it?" Pidge asked, her voice small and gentle, unlike her usual angry and salty self.

"When it was too late, he tricked me you know, I tried to get him to take it back, but he wouldn't and probably couldn't either," Coran said, stroking his mustache slowly, he walked over to the bed and also took a seat.

We stayed like that, completely silent for a while.

The door hissed.

"It worked, I think, he just has to accept the body, the alarms will sound if anything concerning happens," Allura said walking in, and despite the victory there was no cheer or triumph in her voice, only sadness.

"That's good news princess," Coran offered sitting up from his position laying next to me.

"Romelle and Krolia have found their rooms quite comforting, it appears they are keeping their distance for now, knowing they don't understand the situation," Allura reported before flopping herself into the bed.

"Why did he do it Allura?" Pidge asked.

"I wish I knew," Allura responded.

"You don't think it's because-" Hunk cut himself off.

"No," Coran said flatly.

"Are you sure?" Pidge said.

"No," Allura said, with no emotions or inflection.

"Because what?" I asked, braving the storm. I had been gone for a while, I had no idea what happened in that time, but apparently they had become super besties with Lotor and tried to bring peace to the universe.

"The answers will come, just wait," Coran said, sounding super cryptid, but no one bothered to respond, realizing they would rather wait.

Shiro woke a few days later, his hair all white now, I hugged him, more like tackled him, but details, details. The reunion was happy for above five minutes until their leader realized the pain and damage he brought to the crew.

We comforted him the best we could, but were all still in pain.

To make matters worse was Shiro started feeling better, when he realized a certain life of the party wasn't there to greet him.

"Where is Lance? I have so much I need to tell him. Kuron said some awful things to him, and in the astral plane he looked so strong, I wanted to tell him that, he has grown so much you know," Shiro said with a smile on his face.

"No matter what you did or what you will do, you will always be his hero," Pidge said, before throwing herself into the older. Her tears wet his shirt, and Shiro just looked for less...confusing answers, but the rest fo the team dove into a hug.

"Okay but where is Lance? Seriously?" Shiro said taking in the hug, but feeling a little unsteady by all the tears.

"Lance is gone," offered Romelle, she had been the voice for many over the past few days. Saying the things we didn't want to.

"On like a recon mission or supply run? Is he getting me a cheesy get well card or some sort of funeral card?" Shiro said laughing, but it only made more of them cry.

"And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow, let it be," Hunk sang.

"Where is Lance?" Shiro pushed us off of him.

"Lance is dead," I said, but I couldn't' look at Shiro so I walked out the room and returned to Lance's bedroom, where the five of us had been sleeping for the past few nights.

"He wanted us to look at these," Coran said pulling up hundreds of files on the screen in the lounge. Each were named: 'food fight shenanigans', 'the castle is haunted', 'saving Allura', 'Space mall!', 'Voltron show', 'Lotor has perfect hair and it isn't fair'. We scrolled through the dozens of them until Hunk yelled stop.

"That one, it says 'Garlic Knots' click it," Hunk said, his voice had yelled minutes ago, it was horrifying in a way, Hunk hardly ever yelled.

On the screen our friendly little blue paladin popped up, he was in the kitchen, sleuthing around, he stopped short of the counter, "Okay everyone Hunk has been trying to make garlic knots for the past ten days and hasn't let me try a single one of them yet, he keeps tossing them out, so here I am about to steal one."

He pretends to do some ninja rolls and reaches up to grab a garlic knot, before Hunk's big hand swats Lance's tiny one out of the way.

"What are you doing?" Hunk says, he has dough and flour all over his apron and face.

"Come on Hunk, just let me try one, I don't even care if it tastes bad, it's been too long since I have had a garlic knot," Lance whined.

"You will wait, but I think this next batch is what we have been looking for," Hunk said beaming as the oven beeped and Hunk pulled out garlic knots, we could almost smell the knots through the video.

Lance props his phone up so he can get the full effect. He grabs a garlic knot and smells it, he carefully rips it in half and smells it again before taking a small nibble from the bready inside. His blue eyes light up and widen, his smile expands despite the food, and his face crinkles happily before diving in for more.

"It tastes just like Lisa's," Lance says throwing himself across the counter to hug Hunk. "It's perfect, thank you."

End.

Coran puts one on called 'Sharky Shark'.

Lance is holding his phone as he entered the holo room, we all knew this is where he spent a lot of his freetime. Pidge and Coran had programmed it to a variety of Earth climates and weather patterns.

"Alrighty everyone, my name is super adventurer Lance McClain and here we are about to wrestle a shark," Lance says through a thick accent trying to imitate wildlife and adventure shows.

The room springs to life into a beach and ocean. Lance runs for the water with pure ecstacy, he watches the water spray up, but you can see slight sadness in his eyes as it he can't feel the water splash or sand between his toes.

"There's one right there!" he yells, before diving under the water to show a shark coming right for him. "Now I have always wanted to give a shark a hug, so let's do it!"

We watch as Lance tries to hug the holographic shark as the shark tries to eat him. We all burst into a fit of laughs, but then we realize, he's not really there, he's gone, no more laughs.

Lance in the video gets out of the water, exhausted from trying trying to catch shark that can't be caught.

"Well anyways this episode is sponsored by Coran Smythe and Pidge Holt, thank you so much for making my day just that much better."

End.

Pidge grabbed onto Coran, "Wait play the one that says 'Holts ™.'"

"Oh my stars, okay seriously, I love my family and we are amazing and everything, but you have never seen a family until you see the Holts okay," Lance says, his phone is in his hands as he is trying to sneak down a hallway.

He moved the camera to the green lion's hangar and you see Sam, Matt, and Pidge staring intently at a screen.

"Okay, but what if we…" Sam trails off pointing at something.

"No I already did that," Pidge says rubbing a pencil against her head.

"Well what if…" Matt says twisting to another screen.

"That wouldn't work because…" Sam said pointing to some other things.

"Ahh you are right," Matt says and then the three go back to staring at something together.

"THAT'S IT" they all yelled at once.

It pans back to Lance, "like what the hell just happened, I have no idea?"

"Now wait for this, your heart is going to melt," Lance says tucking his phone into his pocket, but still recording.

He runs into the hangar and yells, "Capture the Pidge!"

Then runs out, with Pidge hoisted over his shoulder.

"Lance what are you doing?' Pidge says completely unfazed.

"I've got eyes on her dad, they are heading for the kitchen!" Matt yells, and sure enough Lance is in the kitchen. He puts Pidge down, "Hold this."

"Why are you even recording th-"

"Unhand her!" Sam says running in holding slingshot.

"Never!" Lance aims the food good blaster only to get pelted by a fuzzy creature, he looks down at it, it's one Pidge's fuzzy companions.

"Victory will be ours," the camera pans up to see Matt jumping through a vent and landing directly on top of Lance. Everyone laughing.

The video goes black for a second until Lance is there again, but this time in the medical bay, putting some healing ointment on his head.

"See I told you the Holt's were amazing, honestly the universe is a cruel bitch for separating such amazing people," he said looking down, and then plastering an amazing smile on his face again.

"I love you Pidge, you will always be my little sister, don't forget that. Let me know if Matt starts picking on you I will show him who the better brother is," a happy, bubbly laugh.

End.

Okay maybe this wasn't the best idea, everyone was crying their eyes out. Coran had handed me the tablet, and I stopped short of one of the videos. I knew what it meant already.

'Cradling'

Lance is sitting at his desk, "Oh my stars, okay haha, are you ready for this. My rival mullet head he yelled at the breakfast table that he cradled me in his arms, and just to get him back for practice the other day when he didn't see my perfect shot I told him I didn't remember."

"But Keith one day, I will show you this video, and I just want you to know I remember our bonding moment, now for the record I still woke up from a coma or something and saved all your asses, but I do remember you punching Sendak and then reaching a hand out to me. I told you we were a good team. I still believe that, no matter how awful your mullet is or how unreasonable your jacket is our how stupid your finger gloves are. You and I will always be a team. Thanks for cradling me in your arms," he said with a wink.

End.

"I knew that bastard remembered," I said as bitterly as possible, trying to bite down the tears, Shiro rested an arm on me. I scrolled towards the bottom, one read 'a mi familia' and the others seemed directed at each of us. I wondered if he knew, if he knew something was going to happen. Did he know he would be sacrificing himself?


	3. Chapter 3

"'Shiro always my hero', play it right now," Shiro said ripping the tablet from my hand.

"Takashi Shirogane, wow that sounds weird, yeah we aren't going to do that anymore, Shiro," Lance said looking at the camera before walking into a room, it was the holoroom. When he walked in the camera readjusted to the lighting, it was bright, and blue. There was a small red pagado in front of Lance, he walked and sat next it.

"I have been feeling especially sentimental lately. After you disappeared I realized a lot of things. First how much you really pulled us together. I may have launched us into space on accident, but it was you who brought the five of us together when we saved you.

"You know when we were all trying out the black lion to try and keep Voltron together I heard your voice...No I never told anyone else or you, I don't know why, not really, but I felt what you said to me. You told me a lot of things, you told me about how you wanted Keith to lead, but you wanted me to be there to back him up. You told me that you were proud of me, proud of me for keeping the team together while you were gone. You said and I quote, 'Lance you are the heart of Voltron, you always were, and you always will be.' Yeah I didn't ever forget that.

"Thank you Shiro, I know you aren't particularly yourself right now, I hope you are okay, you deserve to be okay, once we get out of here, promise me you'll visit the beaches in Japan that you talk about during our one am training sessions and midnight snacks.

"Thank you Shiro, you are the best space dad, and keep being my hero," he said, tears in his blue eyes before closing out the camera.

End.

"You spoke to him?" Allura said, she remembers that day, we all do, Lance had spent almost thirty minutes in the black lion and none of us knew why.

"I remember feeling him, he was hurting so much, I didn't know why, I didn't know where I was, I remember talking to him, but I forgot about it," Shiro said, eyes full of tears. He didn't have the same chance we did to cry when Lance first left, and honestly it was for the better, Space dad would not have handled Lance sacrificing himself well.

"'Gremlin', play 'Gremlin,'" Pidge cut the silence, but there was still strain in her, but there six videos dedicated to each of us at the end, and a seventh with Voltron's name on it. We were going to watch all of them, probably easier for her to get it out of the way now. Hunk pulled her close and held onto her.

Lance is sitting at his desk with the lamp on casting aggressive shadows over his face.

"My little Gremlin who stalks the halls in the middle of the night with the crazy hair and grumbling about fruit snacks," he says before lifting up a mystery bag, with little colorful gummies in it.

"I found some at the space mall, I of course taste tested them, the orange one, don't trust it it's weird," he coughs. "But more importantly I have hidden them on this ship because I am secret space pirate."

"If you want to find your precious fruit snacks you are going to have to remember a few things. First, the place I first found you sleeping on your laptop before I carried you to bed. Your first clue will be there. Your second clue belongs to our first sleepover, just you and me. Your third clue the place I fixed your glasses when they broke. These three clues will lead you to your fruit snacks, don't worry I made sure to air seal them, they won't be going bad or stale anytime soon," he said adjusting the light so it was more friendly.

"Anyway, I got you fruit snacks because you are my best friend and little sister. What I wouldn't do to protect you. I just want to thank you for always keeping me honest with that devilish smile. I am honestly surprised that all my secrets aren't out in the open because of you.

"If you ever get lonely and I am not there you are always more than welcome to go to my bed or wear my jacket, or watch this video. You know you little gremlin I love you so much. I think I finally figured out why I didn't know you were a girl, because it didn't matter to me. You could be girl, boy, gremlin, whatever, and I would still love you will all my heart. Grow up and change the world," he said blowing a kiss and a solid wink.

End.

"That idiot, did he know he was going to die?" Pidge shouted, she was holding onto some notes from the video too, but Hunk cut her off by playing his.

'Hunk the Hunk'

Lance is sitting in the kitchen, you can tell it's well into the night when everyone else should be sleeping.

"Holy shit, okay seriously I have no idea what this is, but it's amazing. It tastes just like cheesecake but with something better than strawberries and has a slight crunch texture. You know what I would make a horrible food critic, because I can't describe food worth a shit, but this is amazing," he is stuffing his face between bites.

"Anyway, Hunk, Hunkster, my main, my bro, my man. My best friend. Do you remember when I first met you, oh dear, you were bunking with me, and this annoying ass walked up to us and tried to make fun of us for our perfect skin?

"I jumped off my bunk and kicked him in the face, and you stood there completely shocked, anyway I got in a load of trouble, but we got the stupid fucker kicked out of the Garrison, which was great.

"It took awhile for you to really open up to me, but you stayed by my side, and I appreciated your gentle warmth. The first time we really talked I had convinced you to sneak out to the top of one of the Garrison buildings with me. After a ton of convincing you finally agreed. That was the day you started to open up to me. You told me about your dreams to become a mechanic who could work in space because your dad was the best mechanic you knew and because your mom would stargaze late into the night with you.

"Anyway, after that we become unstoppable, we crushed exams, played pranks, and made food together, well you made the food, but whatever. It was awesome. I still never get over the time we glued pencils to Iverson's hands or when we filled Keith's boots with shaving cream.

"Hunk, I most definitely didn't deserve to have you in my life, I am kinda an ass, but even more than that the universe doesn't deserve you. Which is why you deserve happiness unlike anyone else. If you are wondering where all the rocks you collect from different planets are it's because Pidge and I sent them to Shay, go get her when all of this is over, promise. Love you Hunk, I ain't never gonna stop loving you bitch," he blew a kiss and made a heart with his hands.

End

"Wait you were the one who filled my boots with shaving cream," I said looking at Hunk who lifted his hands innocently in the air. He was so strong, even now, holding back the sadness and loss.

"Also you and Lance are responsible for my missing rocks? I was going to give to those to Shay when I saw her next," Hunk said pointing a finger at Pidge.

"Shay was too shy to ask you so she talked to Lance, asking him to make sure the two of you stay in contact, when he realized you were collecting the rocks for her, he started sending them to her instead," Pidge said now holding her hands up.

Only Lance would have the ability to somehow keep everyone smiling and laughing when he wasn't here.

Coran reached over and clicked one, 'Coran, Coran the Gorgeous man.'

"Coran, in case I don't have a chance to tell you ask the mice for directions to the workshop. I gave them strict instructions to only tell you where it is, you can decide after that if other people can come down here. I am sorry for keeping it a secret from you, it...it is the only place that gives me purpose. I don't feel completely worthless when I am down here," he breathed out panning the video around the most beautiful work space.

"I am so selfish, keeping this place to myself when you have done everything to make this place my home. You and Pidge altered the holoroom for me so I no longer had to imagine home and cry, but so I could be in home. You were there for me when I had my first break down about home, and there for pretty much every other. You reminded me of my Abuelo and I attached myself to you. How do you do it? Always keep such a strong and brave face, I know you are hurting.

"None of us on this crew give you enough credit, you spend all your time cleaning, taking care of us, cooking when Hunk can't, monitoring the ship and more. You tend and care for each of us when we are tired or injured. You have so much love in your heart for having been alive for so long, for having seen so much pain and suffering.

"Coran, Coran you are the most gorgeous, caring, down to earth, loving man. Don't forget that. I will always see you as family, and I wish I could give to you all you have given to me.

Tears streaming, he shuts off the feed.

End.

"My poor boy, you were too good to me," Coran says with a choked cough and covers his face in a kerchief.

"He felt worthless?" I said, my heart sinking, not only did Lance make our brave and strong Coran cry, but we all just learned a secret we didn't know about.

"He always saw the rest of you busily working, and he would feel in the way, that is why I would have him help me clean or give him books, I wondered where he started to disappear, he found my grandfather's workshop, it gave him so much knowledge and purpose, it is why he sacrificed himself, he knew how," Coran said, crouching down before he began blubbering. We all huddled around him to comfort the older Altean. The Altean who had indeed been through too much pain. We stayed like that until Coran gathered himself, "continue for Lance."

My eyes stopped at the title of mine. 'Keith I still love you.' Shiro put it on.

Lance was sitting inside Red, he took a deep breath, he was holding back tears.

"Keith Kogane, I am not going to lie the shit I just went through, that was traumatic, and when I came back and was able to hug everyone things felt alright until I realized I couldn't hug you. Do you know that I have tried to get into contact with Kollivan every day since he told Allura that you were gone on a long mission, like what the hell does that even mean? What kind of long mission are you on and why can't you message us or send us anything. I just want to know you are alright," he reached up and brushed his tears out of the way.

"For the record, when I first met you I definitely had a crush on you, not that I knew why. Damn your mullet was the biggest fashion upset in the entirety of the Garrison, but for some reason I had a crush on the emo wearing a cropped leather jacket, which also didn't make any sense. Though at the time I didn't know you were straight as a rainbow, and I figured all the hate you radiated you probably hated me too, so I played pranks on you and faked a rivalry.

"When we came to space it was only logical to continue pretending to hate you. We were in space, we were fighting a war and I didn't want my feelings getting in the way. Thankfully I am not as hot-headed as you and actually like to use my brain, because if not I probably would have been diving for you on more than a few occasions. Luckily Big Red right here had my back." he said patting the red lion, who let out a purr.

"You were always there for me you know, it was weird, but training with you, it helped, and when my unleashed a sword bayard I knew it was because of you, that you were still with me. When Shiro came back I went to you looking for advice because I already felt pretty useless, there were too many paladins and not enough lions, but you somehow crushed the darkness trying to eat away at me. Then one day you said you were leaving, I was so hurt. I didn't want to lose any part of my family, but especially not you. But I understood too, you were still trying to figure out what your Galra heritage meant, you were still hurting and trying to adjust to having a family, I couldn't blame you, but I still miss you. Can't you come back already? Can't I be selfish and tell you finally, truly that I like you, and yes like-like you," his breath hitched and he laughed at himself.

"Stupid fucking mullets and purple eyes. Come back Keith, I still love you."

End.

Everyone fell completely silent, I could feel their eyes all on me, and yet all I could see was Lance, sitting awkwardly in red, reaching his hand behind his neck and brushing his hand through his hair occasionally. The blue eyes overflowing with tears and tears running down his mocha colored skin.

"I just figured that disaster bi was never going to tell you how he really felt," Pidge said, her jaw had dropped completely.

"To think if you had just told him how you felt, you two could have made the most iconic couple in the LGBTQ community," Shiro said, I couldn't read his face, because he knew what I was feeling. His relationship with Adam.

"You both liked each other and you never did anything about it, I tried to tell him you liked him too, but he never listened," Hunk said walking over to hug me.

The blue-eyed boy I had dreamed of seriously liked me back, and as soon as I learn the truth is when the universe ripped him from me.

"But why would he say it over video? Why now? What traumatic event happened? Like Pidge said why does it seem like he always knew his death was coming?" I spouted out.

"I have a feeling I know, and that this video will tell all," Allura said, her eyes looking down before clicking it, 'Saved by a Princess.'

Lance is standing in his room in front of a mirror, "you know, I was checking over some things, and when I did I realized that it had been my birthday that day. Only my life would have that much irony it right?"

He turns and lifts his shirt over his back, scars and cuts and more littered his back, but a big one, a what looked like a tesla coil back stretched over his back, "Since coming on this crew there have been a lot of things that we been through. I just turned eighteen, Hunk a couple months before me. Pidge is only sixteen now, and Keith he's nineteen. We are just kids in this war. Fortunately we had each other, we had the team, that is why most of these scars mean nothing," he said fixing his shirt and turning back around.

"The thing is I don't care about the scars I have on my body. But the other scars, those hurt. The scar from watching Shiro fight Sendak one on one while I was incapacitated. The scar from watching Allura being taken away by the Galra ship and not being able to do anything about it. The scar of watching Hunk be mind controlled my mermaids and eels while he tried to attack me. The scar from watching Pidge and her lion get thrown to the ground on Olkarion fearing she wouldn't get back up again. The fear from watching Keith seconds from nose diving to his death to save us. Those scars hurt so much more. I think that's why I dove in the way, why I took the radiation blast for you, for you and Blue. I was tired of watching everyone I cared about almost dying or hurting themselves or changing from the war," his voice was tightening as he sat in front of the mirror.

"That is why I told you not to tell any of them, that is why I told you not to tell any of them that I died and you brought me back to life. They didn't need to know it, and I wish you didn't have to know either, but at least now I can say I was saved by the most beautiful and bravest princess in the universe. That is why I am making these videos. I watched my life end. I saw my abuelo and my enough I saw Shiro on the other end, he just held solemn in his eyes. I watched all of you cross my vision, all of you that I care so much about and my family back on earth too, and then suddenly the light grabbed me and pulled me back out.

"Also probably time I show you these," he closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, before two blue altean marks appeared on his cheeks. "I saw them and scared the shit out of myself. I knew why they were there, you used Altean magic to save me, you used yourself, your energy to save me. I couldn't let the others see, so I hid them again. Kinda like Lotor's huh? Don't tell that purple barbie doll either though."

"Princess I owe you so much, first sorry for all my flirting, it's honestly just a coping mechanism. I have eyes for someone else. You always keep the crew together, keeping us driving for peace, and I don't care if I died on my eighteenth birthday, because I came back to life so I could fight this damn war and protect all my friends, family, and universe. Promise me that no matter what happens you won't give up on peace. I love you Allura, thank you for saving me."

End.


	4. Chapter 4

"I promise Lance," she whispered, but there was no amount of sincerity or tears in her eyes that stopped us from retaliating.

I jumped up and backed her into a wall, "Lance died and you didn't tell any of us?"

"Shut it Keith you weren't even here when it happened," Pidge said pushing me off her, only for her to lean into Allura too. "He died that day? And you didn't tell us?"

"He changed so much that day, I made fun of him, telling him he turned eighteen and just instantaneously matured," Hunk said looking down. Shiro got up and removed Pidge and Keith from Allura's space.

"It's not her fault, Lance didn't want you to know, Allura only honored that, he was alive and well," Shiro said plopping them back onto the couch. "I was so confused, I remembered seeing him, and then he just disappeared again, and I had no idea what it meant."

Coran stepped forward and played the last video.

"Voltron family! If you are ever watching this video it's most likely because I am dead, which is sad, but not really, don't be sad, it would make me sad wherever I am. Can't you let dead Lance enjoy his ice cream and garlic knots? I don't even know where to begin.

"First, I am sorry for dragging all your asses into space, technically it was my fault, Blue was driving, but I was driving her. Second, sorry for being the goofball fuck up most of the time, I try really hard not to be, but sometimes I just am. Third, if I died for some stupid reason then I am really sorry, hopefully it was at least useful in some way.

"To my Trio, my three musketeers, I am sorry for making our three into two, but you two will be fine without me. You are both so smart there's nothing you can't do. I mean Pidge you literally came into space and found your missing brother and dad. How the hell? I have no idea, that's amazing. Hunk you somehow became even more of a culinary mastermind and you are the reason that so many join the coalition, your warmth and gentleness. Keep going, stay strong.

"To Shiro and Keith, I hope you two can build your damn family because watching you two be sad all the time sucks. You need people to make you happy, you need families. Make them. And remember you have each other, brothers, maybe not by blood, but my so much more.

"To Coran and Allura, Altea may be physically lost, but it is in you, and wherever you go it will follow. Find new Atlea. Make it home. You deserve it.

"To my entire Voltron Family, there is no way I would have been able to survive resurrection without you. When Allura pulled me back it's because I wanted to make sure all of you were still okay. You have pushed me into becoming someone great. More than just a gorgeous pilot and sharpshooter. You gave me a home away from Earth, another family, and we all know how much I love family, in fact, when you go back to Earth tell my family to let you in because I am in all of you now.

"Allura ask Coran there is a juniberry growing in the workshop. Coran there is a journal in the workshop I left for you from me. Shiro I wrote you a song, give it to your lover, it's on a flashdrive in my desk. Pidge take all my games and my jacket. Hunk you found a geode or geode type thing, I made it into rings for you, also in my desk, give it to the one you love, namely Shay, but if it changes, give it them. Keith there are two bracelets hanging in red, they may not fit with your biker get up, but they are for you. Love you all, to the stars and beyond to other realities and the astral plane, I love you."

He gave one last big smile, a true Lance smile before ending the video.

He was really gone. We all felt it. Everything sucked without him. Fighting pirates, playing dream game shows, returning to Earth, fightin Sendak, saving Earth. It all sucked without Lance.

The worst was seeing his family, I had no idea his sister went to the Garrison, or that his whole family would be the first people we would meet when we landed at the Garrison. I didn't realize they would be just as loving and forgiving as him.

They took all of us in and made us their family while we were on Earth. We have them the videos to watch, I never watched it, but while I stayed at their house I could hear Lance's voice playing and crying. It was overwhelming.

Momma McClain welcomed me with the warmest arms, and I needed it. No matter what my mom and Kosmo did I was empty. I get it Lance was young love or whatever, but he wasn't, he was so much and more.

"These bracelets," Momma McClain said, she was walking me along the beach, the team agreed to vacation with the McClain's to their beach home. "I can tell you don't know what it means to Lance."

Her eyes fell on me, they were blue too, they reminded me of him, but I couldn't look away, no matter how much it hurt.

"It was started a long time ago in our family, our family didn't used to have a lot of money, we are better now, but there was a time when the family could barely feed themselves, but Lance's great, great, great, great grandfather wanted to propose to the woman he loved, he wanted her to be part of the family, so he made her a bracelet, one black and one white, claiming she was his light in the darkest days. The next generation followed in his footsteps, and every generation after that," she said, my eyes were wide as she lifted her sleeve to show a bracelet.

"Blue like the ocean, and my husbands, brown like the sand. He is the land to my ocean and and I the ocean to his land," she said before I felt a hand rest on my shoulder startling me.

"Lisa, my love, my everything, she is my sky, and I am her ground, she reminds me to keep reaching for the sky-"

"While he reminds me to stay grounded," Lisa said walking up to take Luis' hand, green and blue bracelets, I looked at my own, red and blue. Fire and water, blue and red. Never really rivals.

"You meant a lot to him Keith," Momma McClain said looking back over the water. I kneeled into the current, the gentle lapping of the waves. He left us too soon.

Honerva kneeled in front of us, a monster among monsters, but I understood, which terrified me. I understood wanting to be with her family. I wanted to be with Lance. I wanted to be with him more than anything. Maybe in another reality I would be tearing apart realities to find him.

"All these worlds, all these realities, they deserved to exist," Allura said, and I took a deep breath, what I knew and Honerva didn't was that Lance deserved to be in all those realities, and I needed to be in mine, fighting for him, saving the universe for him.

"We have all lost people, the same day you lost your son, we lost our paladin," Shiro said, he grabbed my hand and Allura's, I grabbed Pidge's and she Hunk's.

"I lost everything, you still have your strange family," Honerva spat.

Allura took a step forward and placed her hands on Honerva's head, "it's not just about family, look there was a time when you loved more than just them."

We all had things we still loved, well not quite me. I was still working on that. I knew I would find it though. I would find it for Lance.

"He deserved better than I could give him," Honerva cried, tearing me from my thoughts, she must have been talking about Lotor, because I swear I could see him appear out of the white emptiness.

"Mother," well he just spoke, so maybe I wasn't as crazy I thought. All heads whipped to face the purple prince.

"Lotor?" she said, Lotor took more steps forward, someone appeared with him.

"La-Lance!" I shouted and ran to him.

I collided with him and we toppled over the strange cloud white surface we sat on.

"Keith," he said, it was him, he was right there, he was in my arms, I was touching him. I was crying all over him.

"Keith come stand," Lance said helping me up, Lotor parted hugs with his own mother.

"Mother," he touched his forehead to hers. "You know what you must do."

She cried and nodded.

"Don't worry, father is waiting for you," and just like that Honerva walked into the light and disappeared.

Lotor was still standing there, his hand reaching out to where his mother's hand was once in his.

"Lotor? Lance?" Allura said, still shocked, but she wasn't the only one, everyone else was standing with their jaws dropped.

"I missed you all," Lance said, walking me back over to the group.

"Lance how are you here?" Pidge cried hugging him, her hands making sure he was really there too.

"We aren't sure how we are here, but we are here to fix what my mother did," Lotor said, Lance didn't speak, he only hugged us all.

"I never thought dying would include missing your hugs," Lance finally said standing before us.

He looked back at Lotor who nodded.

"This is the end of your war, you finally did it, you protected Earth and the universe. You will all go on to do the things you love, and I can't wait," he said, I tried to say something, anything, but he silenced me with one solemn look.

"I am still making your garlic knots, and I have your rings," Hunk said tears in his eyes as he embraced Lance.

"I have your jacket, and Coran and I have been using your notebook, you could have told us you were smart you know," Pidge said, hiding her face in Lance.

"I have the juniberry Lance, I actually planted it with your family, it took to the soil well," Allura said placing a kiss on his cheek.

"I think of you before every mission, before every battle, before everything. Adam is gone, but I didn't forget the promise I made to you nor the song," Shiro said bringing Lance into a bear hug. A tear coming down his face.

Lance grabbed my wrist where the two bracelets were, "Your family told me what they meant."

"And you kept them?" he said, happiness wrinkling his eyes.

"I kept them," I said, and before I knew it he was kissing me. Everything started glowing, glowing brighter than before. Is this what first kisses felt like?

But then we were in our lions floating through space.

"Paladins!" Coran yelled.

No one said anything at first, what just happened?

"Lance!" I yelled, waiting, hoping. Please let there be a response.

"Paladins, oh thank the ancients," he said.

But the rest of us just waited, we were still waiting.

"Lance?" Pidge squeaked gently.

"Lance," Hunk said, no question, he knew it first, he accepted it first, Lance was not here.

"Lance, he and Lotor, they must have saved the realities," Shiro said.

"Lance? And Lotor? What are you speaking of? Come here you'll want to see this," Coran said over the comms.

"Lance brought us Altea," Allura said with tears, her lion was facing a beautiful green and blue planet.

"Lance," I said, once more, letting my shoulders drop, he wasn't back.

I had just held him, felt him, kissed him, and he was gone again.


	5. Chapter 5

"An anomaly in sector 81," Veronica said. "I can't tell what it is, but the readings are all over the place."

"Interesting, any planets?" I asked sitting up in my chair. Space had been dead for the past few weeks, something I was grateful for, he didn't need natural disasters, supernovas, or black holes. Most intergalactic fighting had quelled nicely.

"No planets, at all, sir," she said pulling up a diagram of sector 81.

"I guess we can check it out," I said. "Prepare for a wormhole to the edge of sector 81."

"Where are we going?" a few people filled the bridge, probably curious for some action.

"Is there something wrong? I have been dying to shoot some stuff with the MFE's" James said stretching. I shook my head, talk about a mixture of Keith and Lance.

"Yeah where are we going now?" Hunk asked, handing food to all the crew members. I looked at the band on his finger, it was beautiful, the entire thing sparkled. I looked at the band on my own finger and over at Curtis who was busy doing who knows what on his console.

"Anomaly reading in a sector, and since we have nothing else to do we figured we would check it out," I said.

"Which sector?" Hunk asked standing beside me, as the wormhole opened before us.

"81."

"We can't go to sector 81," Hunk said flatly, the crew stopped all movements, the only thing that changed was the size of the wormhole, everyone spun their heads towards me and Hunk.

"What do you mean we can't go to sector 81?" I asked, he just hold me know in front of my entire crew.

"It-it's-um-well, nevermind sorry," Hunk said rushing for the bridge doors.

"Proceed with route, I will return shortly, Veronica's word until I get back," I said running after Hunk.

"Hunk!" I shouted. He didn't stop walking, I could feel the Atlas jolt a bit as it entered the wormhole. It still amazed me that Pidge, Slav, and Coran were able to embed the Atlas with the ability to wormhole without an Altean.

"It's fine Shiro, sorry I said anything," Hunk shouted back.

"Hunk by orders of the Captain stop now," I yelled, and he stopped dead in his tracks, but refused to look at me. I caught up to him.

"What's going on? What is sector 81?" I said, the ship jolted a bit again, signifying the end of the wormhole jump.

"It's nothing Shiro," Hunk said taking my arm off him.

"Hu-" I started, only to be cut off by the comms system.

"Shiro you need to get back to the bridge now, you too Hunk," James' voice that's weird I left Veronica in charge.

I grabbed Hunk's hand and started pulling him towards the bridge when Veronica ran at lighting speed past us.

"Veronica!" I shouted, she didn't acknowledge me at all. Great everyone on the crew was starting not to listen to me.

Two roars, and then the three more followed, deep roars, from the lions? The floors shook and I caught my balance against Hunk, "We should get to the bridge."

I nodded at Hunk's words and we both ran.

"What's going on-" I said before the display showed the impossible.

"Keith, listen, you need to come to the Atlas now, it doesn't matter what you are doing, just senda transmission with coordinates when you are ready and we will open a wormhole," Curtis was yelling at me.

"No Curtis-" he ended transmission, great.

"Why does the Atlas need you?" Ezor asked standing next to me.

"Yeah, do they need me? Are they are alright? Is Veronica okay?" Acxa said practically running around the bridge, what the hell was she doing? I thought I was a disaster gay. Zethird grabbed her.

"Stop running," Zethrid said throwing Acxa over her shoulder and walking towards me. "I vote you and Acxa go check on this Atlas issue, Ezor and I can handle flood relief."

"But I don't even know what is going on? And Curtis was sending the transmission, I wonder if Shiro is hurt?" My heart dropped at the thought.

"Well stop trying to think of why and just go," Ezor said, lifting me out of my chair. I guess she had a point.

"Okay, let's go to the Atlas."

"Pidge you need to come to the Atlas right now, let us know when you ready for the wormhole," Curtis said, what the hell? Curtis didn't usually send transmissions, and why wasn't Shiro there? If it wasn't a general transmission it was usually from Shiro or Hunk.

I pulled out my phone and tried to message Hunk and Shiro, but no response.

"Just go, we don't need you here you little twerp," Matt groaned from his desk, he had been asleep for the past three hours.

"It's true, plus L&L day is only a week away, think of it as an early vacation," Dad said, I sighed just thinking about L&L day. It was a great day, the whole team got back together and met in the Castle of Lions, which resides on New Atlea, but remembering the sacrifices it took to get there, the pain, the war, the people lost.

I just nodded, perhaps a vacation would be nice, plus Hunk probably had a bunch of new recipes for me to try out.

"Okay I will be back a few days after L&L then, make sure the McClain's are taken care of please."

"I don't understand Curtis where is Shiro? I can't just leave my planet," I said my face twisted with worry, I hadn't gotten a transmission this urgent in a while, and yet it was so vague.

"I don't have time to explain, but please, you and Coran need to get here as soon as possible, these are our coordinates," Curtis said before ending the transmission.

"That seems quite worrying, what do you want to do Princess?" Coran said, his face as calm as ever.

"I can't just leave and your preparations for L&L day are just beginning, this is obscene," I shouted, I felt hands on my shoulders. I turned to see Merken, my soon to be partner, and fellow ruler.

"Please Allura, I can handle making sure Altea doesn't perish, and Romelle and Tavo can handle L&L preparations for now, Coran has several videos on how to make sure it is prepared perfectly," he rubbed gently into my shoulders full of tension.

"I guess so, what do you think Coran?" I say looking to Coran who was pacing.

"I don't know, but the urgency of the message is concerning, I think we should at least check it out," Coran said, before stopping and nodding firmly. "Yes, we should check it out."

"Lotor please, you know who we are," Allura pleaded, we were sitting in a conference room on the Atlas, I wasn't sure about the whole bringing everyone from team Voltron back, but I also wasn't really being a leader. My head was still swimming. I had touched, him, and he didn't disappear, no blinding lights, no nothing. A projection of him lying unconscious in a medical room hung, it was unnerving, but we wouldn't want it any other way. Veronica was at his side, where the rest of us wanted to be, but Lotor woke first, screaming for Lance.

"I request your full names, occupancies, and how you know Lance and I, again," Lotor said, he was running his hands through his hair repeatedly, everytime he came to the ends he began again. It was just aggressive enough I was sure he was going to make his scalp bleed.

"Again?" Keith growled, I motioned for him to sit and shut it. He looked at me angrily before before running his hands over the bracelets on his wrist. He never told me what it was they meant, but I knew it was what kept him grounded.

"I am Takashi Shirogane, I go by Shiro, I lead the Atlas ship through the universe and send aid for anything the people might need. I technically never met you, but a clone of me met you, Lance and I met when he rescued me after I crashed a Galra escape pod back into Earth with the help of Keith," I said slowly. Lotor nodded, taking in the information, every so often he would glance up to the image of Lance, making sure there were no changes.

"I am Keith Kogane, I lead the Blade of Marmora Relief organization, along with your ex generals, Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid," Lotor looked up at the names, but let his head hang again as Keith continued. "We met while you were the emperor pro-temp of the Galra empire, we were enemies at the time, I actually met Lance when he helped me save Shiro after he crash landed, but we went to the Garrison together when we were younger," Keith said bitterly, I understood, we had just said all this information, but Lotor demanded for it again.

Hunk, Pidge, Coran, and Allura all followed in pursuit, and Lotor left the room to silence for a few minutes, Keith looked ready to blow, but fortunately Lotor spoke again.

"When was the last time you saw Lance and I?" he looked like he was calculating something, like piecing together a puzzle.

"We were at the center of realities, you appeared and spoke to your mother Honerva, she disappeared shortly after. You and Lance were both there, Lance spoke to us, he was there, he was real," Allura said.

"That was almost seven years ago," Coran said, looking down, seven years since they had last seen Lance, you could tell both Lance and Lotor had aged, less obvious, slowly, more like the other alien races, but they had aged.

"Okay, okay, one last question, how did Lance and I enter the space between realities," Lotor said, he stopped running his hands through his hair.

"You were in your sincline robot fighting us when you entered the space between realities and Voltron followed you in and stopped you," Pidge offered.

"Lance sacrificed himself because the rifts in space time you created were going to rip reality, so he took the teladuv into the largest riff, where he was supposed to die," Keith said, standing up, his chair knocking out behind him. I understood Keith's pain and anger, I didn't know how much it was getting to him, but we were all hurting, it took years for us all to mourn Lance, especially after seeing him in the center of realities, we tried to understand why he was there, but the only explanation the smartest people we knew could come up with was that the center of realities didn't have any basis of time or reality so Lance and Lotor now beyond both appeared.

"Okay, I know where we are, this truly is our reality, the reality we were birthed in, Lance will like hearing that, you said it's been seven years since you last say us, that's quite a bit of time, I wonder, I need to speak with Lance, take me to him please," Lotor said, standing up.

"Uh no, you still haven't explained anything, we obliged to all your questions, it's time for you to answer ours," Keith said making strides toward Lotor.

"I need to see Lance right now, I am concerned for his health, I think he is the reason we came out of the space between realities," Lotor said, glancing up at the screen again. Lance's vitals had been really low when we brought him aboard, far lower than Lotor's. But still none of this made sense, they were just in the space between realities? Doing what chilling?

"Explain to us where you were for the past ten years," Hunk said, his voice sharp and hard, I had never heard him act such a way.

Suddenly movement on the screen, Lance jolted in his state, and began to shake, Lotor collapsed and started screaming.


	6. Chapter 6

"Take me to him now," Lotor said through his screams, Allura and Coran grabbed him and helped him towards the medical rooms. I chased after them, I needed to know what was happening, what was happening to Lance? The rest followed shortly behind, crew members rushed to the screams but quickly moved out of the way.

The doors slid open where a doctor was trying to understand the convulsing, while Veronica cried in the corner.

"Move," Lotor ordered before touching his fingers of his right hand to Lance's forehead and the fingers of his left hand to Lance's chest. He was still struggling through screams.

The shaking stopped, but Lance shot up and started screaming, the sounds of someone slowly ripping him apart, I dropped to the ground trying to drown it out. Lotor embraced Lance, I could see him mouthing things to him, and slowly, Lance's eyes opened his screams stopped.

"Lotor where are we, they are so close, they look so real," Lance said clinging onto Lotor.

"Lance it worked," Lotor said, pulling Lance away from him, they touched foreheads. I wanted to push Lotor out of the way. Lance was mine, not his.

"We are in our reality? We really are? How many years has it been?" Lance asked, his focus was entirely on Lotor, like no one else mattered.

"Seven, seven years since we stopped my mother," Lotor said, tears in his eyes, Lance reached up and wiped them away.

"Seven years, we have time, we can stop it, we can stop them," Lance said, tears coming down his own cheeks now.

"And they can stop hurting you," Lotor beamed back, I had no idea what was happening.

"Who is hurting Lance?" I stood unable to keep quiet anymore, and if Lance screams were reminiscent of the pain whoever was causing him I would rip the tormentor to shreds.

"Keith?" Lance said before turning to me. "Keith!" Lance jumped up and threw himself into me, causing me to fall backwards into the wall.

"You are safe, you are alive," he planted kisses around my face to my surprise.

"I think you mean you are alive, you have been dead for ten years," I said not wanting to push him away, but I had to, none of this made sense.

"Lance-" Veronica choked out, Lance's head spun fast, meeting his sisters eyes.

"Veronica," he let go of me and hugged her, they hadn't seen each other in forever, I may have selfishly yelled at the universe for bringing Lance back to me in the center of realities, but Veronica has witnessed her brother die too many times now. When he first disappeared from Earth they were devastated, but the video streamed by the Holt's brought hope to the hearts of the McClains, only to learn that Lance sacrificed himself for us, then for us to tell stories of him in the center of realities. They did not deserve this kind of pain.

"You were dead, you have been dead for so long, but you are right here," Veronica said stroking her brother's slightly longer hair.

"I am so, so sorry, I thought I was dead too, that was until we met them in the center of realities, I never stopped thinking about you, or mom or anyone, you know I saw abuelos, ellos estan mas bien," he said, his voice filtering into that irresistible accent.

Shiro grabbed my shoulder and and arm helping me up, we all had happiness plastered on our faces.

"It has been three days since the anomaly, you seem to be doing just fine," the doctor said checking all of Lance's vitals and systems.

"That's great then right?" Lance said, he asked everyone out except for myself, Veronica, and Lotor. I kept my eyes trained on Lotor, what happened in there? What did Lance do to make Lotor into a good guy? What happened between the two of them, they shared a lot of intimate interactions, but I couldn't tell if it was romantic or not.

"Yes, it is, I am just worried, your scans are picking up weird frequencies, unlike Lotor," the doctor said, what did weird frequencies mean?

"If my heart is beating and my lungs are making me breathe then I think all is well," Lance said standing up, Veronica tried to encourage him to sit, but he refused.

"I have been somewhere for ten years, somewhere I thought I was dead for most of it, and the other part I never thought I would be able to escape," both Lance and Lotor eyes glazed over darkly, before Lance quickly recovered. "I don't want to spend any more time away from my families."

"I received word from Shiro that we can return home with Pidge in ten days," Veronica said, Lance led us into the hallway of the Atlas.

"It's bigger than I expected," Lance touching the walls and dancing through the halls.

"Expected?" I asked, Lance grabbed my hand, intertwining each of his fingers with mine.

"I have seen a lot of things, we will talk about it some other time, but let's just say there's little I don't know about this reality," Lance said planting a kiss on my cheek. I held my cheek in surprise, it's been seven years. How long had it been for him?

"Well Shiro is asking for us to meet him in the conference room, Hunk and Shay prepared food for all of us," I said, being dragged around the halls by Lance. Lotor and Veronica staying as close as possible.

"Ahh yes I have to congratulate Hunk and Shay, Shiro and Curtis, and of course Allura and Merken, oh and Veronica I know all about your feelings for Acxa, when are you going to propose? I proposed to my love while I was dead, you are pretty far behind," he said laughing, and my mind just lingered on all of the things he was saying, he knew about it all, what was the space between realities?

"Oh come on you old grump, don't tell me you don't believe in happiness, if you are going to be my partner you are going to have to be a bit happier than this," Lance yanked me close to him, his forehead against mine.

"Lance's it's just been so long, I am still not understanding what's happening-" I started.

"So are you not happy to see me?" he asked, his eyes growing serious.

"Of course I am-" I said before he cut me off again.

"Then be happy, you said it's been seven years, smile a little, you are only twenty eight, and you are half-galra, I know you don't age that fast," Lance said, he was still acting seventeen.

"So did you age while in this space between reality?" I asked, because if he was still eighteen then that would be a little weird.

"Time works strange there, but I can assure we have aged in our own ways," Lotor said before Lance could. That is true, when Lance first woke you could tell he was peppered with pain and experience. I wondered if all of this was once again a front.

"Lance this way," Veronica called, guiding us towards the conference room.

"Come on Keith you are so slow, I need to see Pidge and Hunk," and there we were running again.

I watched Lance burst through the conference room doors and dive into Hunk and Pidge who had been conversing.

The three of them erupted into laughter and tears, I have to admit, Lance had a point, I should stop being so worried, and just let myself be happy, but he still didn't explain much. How was he here? Where was he? How did he find us in the center of realities? Who was hurting him? What was Lotor to him? I thought as I glared at Lotor who looked over Lance with happiness. I hadn't ever really gotten to know Lotor, but I knew I didn't trust him.

He looked over at me, and stared straight into me, so much so that I actually felt violated, I scoffed and turned away.

"Glad to see you back to being the Lance we once knew," Shiro said sitting at the table, inviting everyone else to sit as well. Acxa joined, hugging Lotor before sitting next to Veronica. Shay and Curtis joined well, Lance toasting to the them and to Allura on her new partner.

"So you I see the space between realities told you plenty about our lives, how about yours," Allura asked, Lotor and Lance both tensed.

"Oh not much, very boring over there, wouldn't recommend," Lance said laughing it off and digging into the food. "Oh yeah Hunk, I like warless universes, I mean you have perfected these garlic knots."

Hunk laughed punching him in the arm warmly, the table continued sharing some stories, as if Lance had just been out of town for a few years and missed out on some action, but like nothing changed, but my heart was aching, so much had changed, he was different, he just wasn't going to admit it.

"Well please make yourselves comfy here, can go to New Altea early and prepare for the celebrations, the universe has been rather quiet lately," Shiro said, he was smiling too, happy to see the family whole again, the family that had been one person short, short of the person who brought all the happiness.

"Indeed what is it you call the celebration, I believe I finally have that big statue I always wanted," Lance said standing tall, in the exact shape of his statue.

"Mine too, surprisingly," Lotor said, standing with his back to Lance's just like the actual monument.

"Yes, I can tell you have seen in the rift, we call it L&L day, in remembrance of the sacrifice both of you made, you lost families in the war, and without you we wouldn't have won," Allura says offering an answer to Lotor, I had also been skeptical, I wasn't particularly a fan of Lotor getting to be part of the day, but he was the one who told his mother how to fix what she broke. Lance only shared the day because the day he sacrificed himself was lost in the timeline after the crew realized they had been blasted three years from the event.

"It is a universe celebrated holiday remembering the war, the sacrifices people made everywhere for peace," Shiro said, the day always so bittersweet, remembering those we lost but celebrating what we gained. I looked to Lance, his eyes were on mine too.

"Well please make yourselves comfy on the ship, the crew needs to get back to work, we will wormhole tomorrow for New Atlea. Lance, Lotor, let us know if there is anything we can do for you to make your transition more comfortable," Shiro said before excusing himself, Curtis and Veronica following in pursuit.

Lance elbowed Acxa and lifted his hand like a cat and made a purring noise, which got him an elbow in the gut, "Don't think just because I thought you were dead I am going to go easy on you now blue eyes."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Lance said standing up, walking over to me and getting on one knee. Great what the hell was he doing now. "Keith Kogane will you do me the pleasure of taking the red lion out later, she misses us."

I processed the words for a second, the red lion misses them? I guess that made sense, no one really flown the lions in a while. Sometimes Hunk takes out yellow, but not very often. Pidge used to fly hers a lot, before she retired to work on Earth.

"Uhh, yes sure," I said, blushing a bit, by the stars I was twenty-eight why was I getting so worked up over this kid?

"Great, pick you at 7, don't get too dolled up for me," he winked before grabbing Hunk and Shay's hands before running off somewhere.

"Still blushing, it's been seven years," Pidge scoffed at me.

"Oh shut it you little Gremlin," I said reaching out tackle her.

"It is great seeing him tease you, thank you for letting him laugh again," Lotor said cryptid before leaving.

"He is quite curious isn't he?" Coran said eyeing the purple alien walk away.

"He doesn't have hate in his heart, but neither love," Acxa said lightly, I turned towards her, she always told me she had a deeper connection with Lotor, he had rescued her many years ago. "He is different, he has been through so much more pain, it is very unfortunate."

My heart fell, if Lotor had been through pain, then Lance must have too.

"So are you two going to finally run off and get married?" Pidge said again having slipped away from me last time.

"Pidge, please it's been seven years, there's quite a bit of catching up to do," I yelled trying to slide across the table to get her.

"Yeah, yeah, seven years, we all know that you only have heart eyes for him, and don't think we didn't figure out what those bracelets mean," Pidge said running around the table, seriously this gremlin.

"It is true, the bracelets hold a lot of meaning for the McClain family, will you propose to him?" Acxa asked grabbing my shoulder, telling me to give on chasing Pidge.

"Propose to him?" I asked looking down at Acxa's wrist, a blue bracelet. "Wait you and Veronica?"

She blushed a little before regaining her composure, "you wear both bracelets."

"What does that mean?" I asked, glancing at the bracelets, I had never really thought about that, everyone in the McClain family only bore one, the other belonged to their significant other.

"I do not know, I do not even think Veronica or the rest of the McClain's have an answer for you, Lance was always the strange one," Acxa said laughing, landing a heavy hand in my back.

"You have time Keith, don't feel like you need to rush things," Allura said, smiling at us before she stood and left the room.

"I am not teasing this time, I promise, anyway, something that neither of you had a chance as was young love, you always danced around it when you did know each other, and right now it seems like Lance wants to forget about his time in the reality prison, and be with you," Pidge said pushing up her glasses.

"Number five has a point, we can all tell the 'reality prison' as Pidge calls it was not very friendly, and your time without Lance since he admitted his feelings hadn't been easy on you, perhaps you both need some fun," Coran said, before bowing out himself.

"Not too much fun though, or else you are grounded," Pidge said whipping her finger through the air, I dove across the table tackling her for real that time.

"See I knew you still had fun, young Keith in you, still brooding, but at least fun," Pidge said laughing as I tickled her. I rolled my eyes, I had been away from them for too long, and of course it is Lance to bring us together again, it is always Lance.


	7. Chapter 7

I was happy that I would have a chance to spend time with Lance, for some reason it weighed heavy in my heart that none of this would be permanent, my last two moments with Lance had been so short, so sweet, and so bitter afterwards.

Shay had offered us some alone time, I was grateful, but Lance reinforced that he would get to hear all the details later, to which Shay laughed and walked elsewhere.

I walked Lance to my new kitchen, it was a much bigger upgrade from the Castle of Lions, and of course Lance found himself sitting on the counter top.

"You know we prepare food there," I said, laughing at him, the tightness in my chest reminding me it had been seven years since I had seen him. Since he would sit on the counter and wait for me to finish cooking him something and he would exclaim it was utterly delicious.

"Hunk, how are you?" I turned to look at him, and for the first time sadness rested onto his face, the tightness pulled again, threatening to make me cry. "I am sorry, I just, I never thought I would see you all again, it's so hard to see you all, with lives, seven years of putting lives together, it makes me so happy, I just wish I could have been here with you all."

"Well your sorry ass had to go and sacrifice yourself didn't you," a shoe came flying into the room and hit Lance square in the stomach, causing him to jump up, Pidge walked into the room, she didn't look too happy.

"I know, I know this is supposed to be your and Hunk's moment, but I couldn't help it. For the past seven years I haven't had my brother, well I have had Matt, but you met Matt, what a weirdo right, I didn't have you though, because for some reason you thought sacrificing yourself was the best option, you know I would have been fine getting rid of the castle," Pidge started yelling, I understood, it was what we all really felt. When we talked about Lance we talked about him gently and without hate or anger, but deep down we all knew we were mad with him.

"I don't mean to jump your case as well, but you never told us you died back at the omega shield either," I said, remembering how nonchalant I had been about Lance diving into the laser beam, I really hadn't realized how much energy was in it.

"Then you have the audacity to come back here and tell us you weren't really dead this whole time, I could have been looking for you, I could have saved you from wherever you were, you aren't going to tell us what happened in there, but I know it wasn't pretty," Pidge said climbing up onto the counter too, leaning her head against the now sitting up Lance.

"I-I am sorry, I knew how to save the Castle, and I knew you were all strong enough to go on without me. I am sorry for lying about dying back at the omega shield, it wasn't relevant, it left me a little hollowed, but I was still me. I wish I could have told you I wasn't dead, but I had only been dead for seconds the first time, I wasn't sure what death was really like, so I just assumed, I assumed where I was, was death, I didn't even know when I saw you back at the center of realities, I didn't know until I woke, until I was real, until I could touch you all," Lance said, he didn't cry, or even threaten to, amazing, the space between realities really hardened him. I jumped onto the first counter and gave him a hug, we weren't really mad, we were all just hurting.

"It's been seven years," I said, I let it sink it, seven years for our blue paladin to finally come home, when we had all started living in our own lives.

"Seven years, do you even realize how much cool shit I have done in that time," she said punching Lance.

"I can't wait to hear all about it, but can we play a game first?" Lance said, sheepishly looking up at the two of us.

"Sure Lancey Lance," I said, which was a mistake.

"Seriously Lance? Laser tag with real lasers?" I shouted diving for another hall to avoid a blast.

"What did seven years age you too much," he shouted back, letting loose another dozen blasts.

"In our defense we age like normal humans, now you have like Altean life force shit in you and you aged weird in the 'reality prison'," Pidge yelled back she dove down a separate hallway and started shooting at me, causing me to duck into a doorway.

I leaned forward and to lay a shot on her, but she was too fast, getting my air, the stun made me drop my weapon, "Ha yes, got you!"

Pidge jumped out to start teasing when she stopped and then ran forward. I heard her say Lance's name a few times, I felt my chest tighten, no, no, not Lance. I picked myself using my good arm and ran around the corner. Lance was laying on the ground, crumpled into a slight ball.

"Lance what's wrong," I yelled, loud enough that other crew members started making their way towards us.

"Haha suckers," Lance yelled before shooting both Pidge and I in the chest.

"You fucker," Pidge said jumping him, everyone else just rolled their eyes and went on with their ways.

"You are going to give me a panic attack if you do that again," I said clutching my chest, the trauma of losing family has been hard on me, I only admitted it to my dad and Shay, the war had never weighed lightly on me, and watching my best friend in the whole world disappear from me twice certainly wasn't helping.

"Sorry old man," Lance said helping me up from the ground, he gave me a big hug. I closed my eyes, remembering all our hugs in the past, all the true hugs. Emotions ebbed and flowed viciously from them, we hugged when words failed the both of us.

"Hey let me in," Pidge said trying to shove into the hug, making her way into the center, where she usually came into our hugs.

"I see Pidge has become more affectionate with age," Lance laughed messing up her hair, and pushing her glasses down. His eyes became sad again as he pulled apart, "You have aged so much Katie, look at you."

"Don't start crying on me now Lance, I swear to the stars I will end you," but it was too late, she was already crying, but she hid herself into Lance's clothes, just like she used to. "I still keep your jacket, I don't go anywhere without it."

"Good," is all he said, resting his head on top of hers, the height different less drastic now. He was finally back, I wonder if he realizes he is the reason we all went out own ways, being without him hurt too much, there was laughter and happiness, but it was never the same. No matter how many times they played his damn videos.

"Okay, since I am not crying anymore tonight and I want to tell mom, dad, and Matt all about your miraculous return I will give you some time with Hunk," Pidge said wiping her tears before running off.

"Come there is a place you will like," I said, walking down the many never-ending halls of the ship. It was tucked back into a far corner of the ship, not many visited it anymore.

"In loving memory of Lance McClain, may you always feel the sand under your feet," he read from the plaque outside the door, I opened it, it was set up theatre style at first.

"We hold copies of all your videos here," I explained, before pressing a few buttons on the panel, the chairs disappeared and the room shimmered into beautiful beach. From what Sam and Pidge said when they first set it up was that it was based on the same beach in the Castle of Lions, Veradera beach, a place he and his family called home.

"Oh wow, I can feel it, I can actually feel the sand on my feet, how is this possible?" Lance cried out as he wiggled his toes into the sand.

"Some advanced tech stuff that Sam and Pidge came up with, lots of sensory mechanics and technology, but we all know you don't really care for that, go touch the water," I said, his eyes met mine and lit up, the beach, Lance could finally touch the water. He ran for it, he dove into it. I walked up to it, shoes off, not that your feet actually got wet, but so that I could feel the cold sensation wash over me. I missed the beaches too.

"This is incredible, I haven't-" he stopped, he was crying. "I haven't touched the ocean in eleven years, can you believe that."

"You will touch the real one soon enough, and see your family, they welcomed everyone you know, even when they lost you, they still showed us so much compassion," I said looking down, it wasn't fair to that family, they lost a light, and they went on, they went on so strong.

"Hunk I have been gone for ten years, I saw lots of things while I was gone. You lost a lot, how, how do you keep going?" Lance said sitting in the water, realizing he wasn't going to get soaking yet, he was doing that solemn thing again.

"I don't really know, but I guess I always had something to do, we fought for peace for you, we didn't stop for you. You know Shiro is probably the one who comes up here most often, he listens to the video you left him or he holds his hand over the plaque or he goes to the Japan simulation he had Pidge program for him. Before every mission he says your name. When you left we always did it for you," I said, remembering our fight for Earth, we all loved Earth, but we knew how much Earth meant to Lance, his physical home, home to his family, home to his best memories.

"I gave up while I was in there, well, not that I knew it was something other than death, but still. I let the darkness overtake me," he said, he hugged his knees to his chest, I walked up and sat next to him.

"How did you do it Lance? Why did you do it Lance?" I didn't have to elaborate, he knew exactly what I meant.

"You don't want to know," he said, and maybe he was right, hearing about him dying at the omega shield, or hearing him talk about the loneliness he felt on the Castle of Lions, or the fear of us dying or getting hurt. It was painful, Lance felt so much, he felt so deeply, I didn't know how he kept going for as long as he did.

"Okay, but if you ever need to tell someone, then I want to know, I want to be the first to know," I said hugging him.

We stayed there for a while, just he and I watching the sunset on the fake beach and looking up at the stars.

"You mean to tell me these are the only pictures you have? You got married last year, for stars sake there are so many means of capturing the moment," Lance was yelling at Shay and I. We took a total of ten pictures.

Our wedding cake, which we baked together

Us and Shay's family

Us and my family

Our families together

The Volton family

Our first dance

The exchanging of our vows

The Balmeran hand ceremony

Our rings

The tribute to Lance.

Lance's hands lingered on the photo of his tribute, Keith proudly holding a picture of Lance, the rest of us pyramiding Keith into the air, and blue fireworks in the background.

"I don't see smiles in this picture, well I do, but they aren't of joy," Lance said, stretching his thumb over the faces of those he loves.

"Smiles of remembrance, smiles in you being there in spirit, smiles of what you taught us," Shay said, resting her hand on Lance's arm. He looked up and smiled at her, he reached for her hand and examined the ring.

"Looks like that ring measurement I did was perfect, huh?" he said quickly beaming. He gestured for my hand too, both rings were utterly perfect.

"It is all perfect Lance, thank you," Shay said hugging Lance.

"The only thing that would have made it more perfect is if my best man had really been there," I said hugging him.

"I was your best man?" he let a tear slip, I let me head fall to his shoulder.

"Of course, who else would be my best man? Now Kosmo did carry the rings, we didn't trust Keith with them and Shiro was in over his head for the whole thing," I said laughing, Lance returned it with a rich deep laugh.

"I watched it you know," he whispered out, barely audible. "I would go back and watch it so many times, the moment where you said I do."

"You could see it huh?" I said, I didn't really know how the space between realities worked, but I couldn't say I was surprised.

"I saw so many things," he said digging his face into my clothes for comfort, my heart dropped, Lance had said it in pure fear.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hello my dashing prince, are you ready," Lance said when I opened the door, I rolled my eyes at him, but when he reached his arm out I gladly took it. Fortunately I had packed stuff for the L&L festivities, so I had some nicer clothes with me. Lance was wearing a button up and slacks, not that I had idea where he got the clothes from in such short notice.

"So where are we going?" I asked, I knew we were going to ride in the lion, but knowing Lance there was probably somewhere he wanted to go.

"You pick, I am unfamiliar with the planets in this system," he said, as we walked arm in arm down the halls.

"I am not as sentimental with planets as you are, and we would have to jump to the next system, there aren't any planets in this one," I said, he stopped and spun me to my surprise.

"Well then I guess we will let Red lead, now won't we," he smiled devilishly at me, oh boy what was I getting myself into.

"I guess so," I said, his closeness overwhelming, but in all the best ways, they never had moments like this, I had no idea how he felt about me until he was gone.

We entered the hangar and instantly all the lion particle shields dropped, the lions bowed their heads towards Lance who reached out and touched the muzzles of each.

"You have not been caring for Black or Red or any of them Keith," Lance said, I felt an arrow go through my heart.

"You left Red and Blue and all of us," I snapped back, I quickly caught my tongue, Lance's shoulders dropped, and the lions all purred.

"I know," is all he said, before touching Blue's snout. "And yet, I left everyone, but the lion's do not blame me, they blame all of you, they say they understand, but it doesn't make it any easier."

A profound bond with all of them, I wondered if he ever realized his bond with the lions went far deeper than the rest of us. Not even the caring Hunk or intellect Pidge or Shiro who's literal essence was trapped in Black.

I walked over to Black, I could feel her tension and anger at me. I wasn't even her true paladin anymore, but she still felt anger towards me. I couldn't blame her, as soon as the universe was safe I jumped ship as fast as I could, I wanted to be so far away from everything that reminded me of him.

I joined Lance at Red, his eyes were closed as he touched her snouth, I reached up and touched it too, closing my eyes.

_Both my paladins have returned, and I was so worried, I thought I failed you both_, I could hear her say to both of us.

_You never failed me Red, it is I who failed you, I left you, I am so sorry_, Lance said, could hear him too, it was strange, I had never experienced something like that before.

_Do not apologize kit, you did your duty, your fatal flaw was putting others before yourself_, she responded.

_Red,_ I spoke, it had been years since I flew her, what an ass that made me. _You saved me so many times, and I just left you alone, for no reason, I left you_.

_My red kit, do not fret, you had your reasons too, you were in pain, one does not fly well when in pain. You needed time, but you have returned now, with my blue kit, and now all the lions are happy. All the kits are safe,_ she said, all the lions purred in agreement.

Lance intertwined his hand with mine, I was still getting used to it all, but I loved it, and I loved him.

"Seven years, you know Shiro said all the lions had been reluctant flyers as of recent years, and you take one step in and they all open up to you, have you ever realized how amazing you are?" I said to him, bringing him close. Perhaps age has given me more experience, but I never gave myself to anyone else, maybe it was just the comfort of being with the one I always wanted to be with.

"Seven years and you finally stop blushing like a cherry everytime we touch," he said, oh so smoothly before planting another kiss on my cheek.

"Like you didn't blush either," I laughed at him, I could still feel his breath hot on my skin.

"Yes, but think I was a slightly more put together bi, you are definitely a disaster gay," he said pulling me in so our bodies were sandwiched together, my breath caught in my throat at his closeness. "But at least you are my disaster gay."

Oh I could kiss him, he was perfect, his freckles that dotted at his mocha skin, he was stronger, a lot stronger than before, even just from when we were in the center of realities, I could tell.

"Come on let's go you blushing mess," he said as red opened up and let us in, Lance took the helm, not only needing it, but he seemed more connected with Red that I was.

I felt myself nearly fall into the back of the cockpit, I laughed remembering the first time we flew in Blue back on Earth.

"What's so funny mullet-head, think you could out pilot me?" he said, Red roaring out in agreement.

"I am sure I could, but you are having too much fun, so I won't interfere," I said, I looked at him again. Was all of this really happening? Was he really here? Or was I going to wake up from this horrible nightmare in a few hours?

"Lance are you staying?" I said, bring the entire lion to a startling stop, I fell over, losing my balance. Well if that didn't wake me up I don't know what will.

"Red take us somewhere pretty," she purred in agreement as Lance took my hands, he rubbed his thumb over the bracelets on my wrist.

His lack of answer left me worried, so I repeated, "Lance are you staying?"

"I hope so, I really hope so, but who knows how long any of are staying around for?" he said, his voice light, but full of melancholy.

"It isn't fair you know, you leaving me, and then telling me you love me, you never even gave me a chance to say it first," I said, resting my forehead against his.

"You just wanted to beat me to it you competitive ass," he laughed, his breath tickled my skin, I wanted to stay like this forever, I wanted to live in this moment forever.

The red lion purred as it landed us onto a massive meteor, "oh thank the stars, if we didn't have to use our maks I was sure I was going to be all over you."

My heart raced at the thought, glad to know I wasn't the only one who wanted my lips all over his, we put on Pidge and Matt's newest space suit designs, they were sleek and very functional, no bulkiness or bouncing.

Lance walked out first, laying on the surface of the meteor, "there is so much I want to tell you, so much I want to share with you, but first, Keith, I am so, so sorry I left you alone for seven years, I am so sorry I let you think I was dead for seven years. I wanted nothing more than to hold you in my arms and have you hold me in yours. I saw a lot of things while in there, and the things that got to me most was watching the team, watching you all fall apart and do your own things, it was bittersweet, watching you grow and do great things, but I just wanted you all to be together, selfishly. I saw you go off, to try and isolate your feelings, to try and make it not hurt, I am sorry for giving you all that hurt, you are right, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair that I left you or anyone, and it especially wasn't fair that I confessed. You deserved a chance to move on from m-"

I couldn't listen to him anymore, I brought him into a hug, I would have kissed him if I could, right on the lips to shut him up.

"Lance, I didn't want to move on from you, I know I know, call me a masochist or whatever, but what was the point anyway? I would have never found someone as good as you, you balanced me in all the perfect ways, you were the water to my fire, the reason to my emotion, the right hand to my lead, you were everything," I said, he pulled me closer with every word.

"You been working on that for seven years?" he said laughing out tears. What a dork, I laughed back, but it reminded me of what he exchanged with Lotor.

"Lance, why are you here?" I said, it came out blunter than I meant to, but he knew exactly what I meant.

"How badly do you want to know?" he said, pulling away and resting his back on the meteor again, he was staring at the stars.

"I want to know everything Lance, I need to know everything," I said, it was true, I was tired of not knowing things when it came to Lance. I watched through all his videos so many times, I learned all the dark things he kept buried, and it hurt so much knowing that no one ever did anything to take the darkness away.

"It was very dark in there, not by lack of light, but by lack of hope, it nearly broke me, I never thought anything would break me," he said, his words were flat and emotionless, well maybe a little spiteful.

"Let us look at the stars, and then we can go back in Red and you can tell me all," I offered, I could tell he was trying to drink the moments, ever since he got here, it was why he was acting so childish, so innocent, he wanted to drown in love, happiness, light, and most of all hope. He wanted to relish in the fact that none of them broke, including himself.

He reached for my hand and squeezed in, "You keep making me fall in love with you all over again."

"Well I don't love you, I don't like you, I like-like you," I said teasing him, he punched me and laughed with me too.

"I was young and stupid back then, please don't make fun," he said, poking me, and in this moment I wish I had a bigger bulkier suit.

"But it is so easy too, loverboy," I said back, trying to lay some pokes in him, but he had me trapped.

"Oh please, if anyone is easy to make fun it is you, young or old, you still have this mullet after all this time, I was just happy to see you weren't wearing those leather gloves anymore," Lance said taking advantage of his poking and climbing on top of me.

"Don't think I got rid of those for you, they actually ripped, so I finally decided to retire from them," I said back, I had been so sad the day the ripped, so much so that I almost had Ezor stitch them back together for me.

"Oh but I can tell you miss them, maybe I will find you some new ones, consider it one of seven birthday gifts I have to catch up on, oh and I have seven christmas gifts that I need to get you, and do you give gifts on L&L day because I would like to get you more gifts," he said sitting on top of me, counting all the different things he was going to get me.

"The only gifts given on L&L day are to you and Lotor, remembering what the both of you gave in the war, remembering heroes," I said, reaching for his waist.

"Well I am going to be honest Lotor and I didn't do shit in the space between realities, if anyone is a hero to be remembered it is you, ever since the beginning, always wanting to fight for the greater good," he said, leaning in to my touch on his waist, he let our helmets collide, and we just sat there like that for a while. I relished in him calling me a hero, it didn't matter when other people said, only him.

"Okay, I am hungry, let's go eat," he said, jumping up, and helping me up after him.

"Eating and truth-telling McClain," I said, I needed answers. I wasn't going to let him get away with keeping secrets this time.

"Ooh, we can play truth or dare," he said running up the ramp.

"How about just truth?" I offered, but he pouted at the suggestion, "fine truth or dare loverboy."


	9. Chapter 9

"Allura, please stop pacing, you are stressing yourself out for no reason," I said to Allura who had walked the halls over twenty times within the last ten minutes.

"There is just so much happening, I don't understand and I did my best to stay calm in meeting room, but this all of this," she threw her hands up and then proceeded to fall on the floor dramatically, looks to see Lance did have a lasting impact on her.

"Allura, the universe has given us our precious Lance back, the only thing you should be doing is celebrating," I said, which was advice I should also take, there was something unnerving about Lance's return. While he tried his best to outweigh our concerns with his usually eccentricness, there was more to the story that he and Lotor were leading on.

"I know, I know, after all the universe placed us in a three time warp, I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised that it put Lance in one, but how did he survive the teladuv explosion? How is Lotor still alive? Why are they together? What happened in there? Was he seriously alive that whole time and we just abandoned him?"

There it was. The real reason for Allura's unsteadiness. The fact that Lance was there the whole time, he was alive this whole time, and we didn't do anything to save him. My own body felt the weight.

"Allura," it was Shiro, he just rounded the corner. His face, it screamed sorrowful pain. "Allura, none of us knew, there was no way of us knowing."

"We say him didn't we? Seven years ago, he was there, he saved us, he and Lotor saved us, we knew he wasn't dead," Allura said throwing herself onto the ground next to me.

"We didn't know, and Slav and Pidge worked tirelessly to find answers about that event, and they never did. None of us know what happens after death, Keith fought against your father trapped in Honerva's darkness. I was trapped in the astral plane. We don't know what happens," Shiro said sitting in the hall across from us.

"The way they talked about it, the space between realities, you could see it, it wasn't a pleasant place. We may have suffered for seven or so years with him having died, but who knows what they saw in there," Allura said. Reminding me of the darkness that would flicker and cloud their bright eyed paladin, the way he would tense up.

"What about when he woke, he was speaking to Lotor, they were getting away from something," I said, I didn't understand what that had meant, but I never had crossed the space-time reality barrier like Allura and Shiro had.

"Everytime we went into rifts it was white or in the case of the center giant glowing white realities sprouting from a center, grey around. We never saw anything in there," Allura said, what did Lotor and Lance see?

"The memories though, remember the way the played through the space, when Honerva's was remembering, that wasn't natural right? Maybe they say stuff through that," Shiro said his chin resting thoughtfully in his hand.

"I don't think so," Pidge said walking into the hall, she sat next to Shiro, he placed an arm around her. Looks like we were having a hallway party, I snickered at the thought of how Lance of thing it was. He used to call mandatory meetings whenever he felt people needed a break, so it really wasn't a meeting, just a chance to breathe.

"We had been playing laser tag, and I must have said something to trigger him, from where I was I could only see his leg, but he was clearly convulsing like on the medical table, when I had approached him, he had stopped and then he pretended like it was all an act," Pidge said, burying her hands in her face.

"Do you know what it is you said?" I asked, Lance twitching was by no means was a good thing, and he had conscious for less than a day and he was already lying and hiding things from us. I don't want him to feel pressured to tell us what happened in the space between realities if it was traumatic, but there is now a growing concern for his present health

"I was talking about how Hunk and I actually aged seven human years and how he ages differently with Allura's infused life force, Altean magic, and being in that 'reality prison.'" Pidge said, and my face fell, did she call it a reality prison in his face?

"Maybe his body is rejecting the Altean magic?" Allura proposed, it could be possible, we aren't sure what magic does to other bodies, and even certain Alteans do not have the ability to hold it.

"Yeah maybe-" Pidge started only for another body to walk into the hallway.

"Maybe you all should respect Lance, if there was reason for not concerning you then you should remain unconcerned," Lotor snarled. How curious, what was the manner of their relationship in the space between?

"You have to understand that our friend has been dead for seven years, and neither of you offered any explanation to your return," Allura said standing rather defensively, she had been the one to urge us to civil means with the old enemy.

"Do we have to? When you disappeared for three years because of the explosion and closing of rifts did you have to explain to people what happened?" Lotor barked back. My mind started into overdrive, did we ever tell Lotor and Lance about the explosion launching us three years into the future? I only remember saying they had been gone for ten years, the last time we saw them though being seven years ago.

"What do you mean, nothing did happen, a flash of light and it was three years later," Pidge got onto her feet defending Allura.

"Well then, be grateful, but I guess that just adds to my point about the unpredictability of the space between," Lotor growled back before readying to go the way he had come.

"Lotor what happened in there? You were our enemy, fighting against us, and then all the sudden you were with Lance, saving all of reality," Shiro said also getting up, but he presented himself in a far less defensive way.

"I guess that would be my story to tell, not Lance's…" he trailed off, not yet turning back towards us.

"We saved each other, despite our differences. He made me see the faults in my actions, how I was lashing out and being immoral despite my good intentions. When we saw my mother's doings he urged me forward, urged me to forgive her, and ease her mind. My hatred for her caused the greatest threat to all of existence. Lance and I, we spent an eternity together, and we would do anything to protect one another, do not push him, he's been through worse than me," Lotor said, still refusing to turn towards us and disappearing down the hall he came from.

"Well that was...informative I guess…" Pidge said, looking like she wanted to run after Lotor and get more information out of him.

"We were right, it was Lance who brought Lotor back from the depths of darkness clutching him," Allura said, always a flair for the dramatic in describing her old crush.

"He said Lance had been through worse than him, why? How? What happened to them in there?" Shiro said, pulling Pidge into a hug without even realizing.

"I recommend we do as he asked, we need to respect Lance and Lotor's privacy, we do not want to trigger another spell of PTSD, and it would appear he just wants to enjoy being home," I said, but I knew I wasn't going to stop looking for answers, as the person who had tended for all of Lance's injuries at the Castle of Lions my heart wants to reach out and make sure he is in good health. Maybe I should check in with the physician.

How to distract the team though?

"L&L day is approaching, and this will be our biggest one yet, celebrating the return of those who sacrificed themselves, I need invitations to all of our allies, I need decorations, I need fireworks, and more. You are all smart, get to it," I said trying my best to sound chipper, everyone else welcomed the distraction from their blue eyed friend.

"Hello, you are the physician that helped Lance McClain right?" I opened the door.

"Yes, name is Dr. Pehrson, what can I do for you?" he said.

"You see I tended for Lance prior to the whole exploding teladuv stuck in the space between, and I was wondering if we could compare notes," I asked, who knew it if was going to work, Earthlings were strangely strict in health care measures.

"Actually, I could use some help, these strange readings have been tripping me up, and maybe you might know some things, you are Altean no?" I nodded before he led me into his office, looks like he had been working on Lance's files for a while now, just about everything I could imagine was projected into the walls.

"All of his vitals seems to be normal considering human norms, is there anything you can take away from Altean standards, I understand he was brought back to life with Altean magic," Dr. Pehrson said scanning over some of the data.

"Did you do blood work?" I asked.

"Yes I am still waiting for the results," he said.

"Did you see his back?" I asked, he looked a little surprised when I asked, but I know that is where Lance takes the worst of his blows, he has become desensitized there.

"Uh, no, he still had on the old paladin armor when he came aboard, we took it off, but left him in the undersuit," he said.

"It's okay, he seems to have some sort of unknown energy pattern, and look, when he started screaming it seemed to fluctuate, and then when we woke it mellowed out below his sleep level," I said, making points to changes.

"Yes, I did notice, but I don't know what the energy signature is, I have tried to cross it with every known thing in the universe, medically and weapon-wise, but I came up short," he said.

"It is likely not of our universe, what happened in there Lance?" I said resting my hand on the diagram of Lance's heart patterns.


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay did something different on this one, I have been dying to do one like this, so just imagine they are lying on a pile of blankets in Red looking at the stars Lance painted on the ceiling, soft music in the background, and lots of fairy lights. **

"What happened in there Lance?"

"That's not how you play truth or dare!"

"I know, but I feel like you are avoiding the topic at hand."

"You already know I am."

"Why? You can tell me."

"Keith, it's been seven years for you, but it's been an eternity for me."

…

"I saw everything. Not just from our reality, every reality. I saw so much darkness, so much hate. I saw the past, present, and future. I watched universe's fall apart."

"Lance…"

"No don't feel sorry, you thought I was dead all this time and didn't move on."

"I didn't move on because I didn't want to, and I only wish to take the pain away, you never did like war or hate, your only goal was to spread love."

"I thought I died you know. I entered the rift, the explosion went off, and then I was floating. That's when I found Lotor, he saved me, or whatever, because we both thought we were dead. I told him what happened, and the eternity he realized how foolish he had been, throwing away everyone and everything for one goal.

"Then pain engulfed us, an excruciating pain, and then we saw all of you. Lotor realized what was happening, and I encouraged him to forgive his mother. I was so scared, so scared you were all going to die, I felt every single life in our universe go, she had destroyed our reality. I touched you, I kissed you, and all was well, but I knew it couldn't last.

"I tried to keep watch over our reality. I watched Shiro and Curtis get married. I watched Hunk propose to Shay. I saw you start a reinvented Blade of Marmora. I saw Allura and Coran lead the New Altea. I watched Pidge invent technology that would change the universe. I was so proud, it was both a blessing and a curse being able to watch over you all."

"Lance, why are you here?"

"Keith, can't you just be happy with me right now?"

"Lance I want to be happy with you forever."

"Then let us be happy."

"Funny because since you are the one holding back, you are the one trapping yourself in the darkness, depriving yourself of sanity and hope."

"So age has given you wisdom huh?"

"Lance, I am being serious."

"I know. I can handle this, Lotor and I we returned to handle it."

"What does that even mean?"

"It's why I am here."

"Are you going to leave after?"

"I hope not."

"You don't know?"

"I have changed the timeline for our reality, I no longer know the future."

"What do you think is going to happen to you."

"I hope that I get to stay here with you."

"I asked what you think, not what you hope."

"Well for me to hope something I have to think it."

"Lance."

"Keith."

"Why are you being like this?"

"Because I love you."

"I love you."

…

"You and Lotor."

"Yes me and Lotor."

"Is there something between you two."

"Just an eternity of shared memories."

"You know what I mean."

"If there was something between us why would I have kissed you at the center of realities? Why would I have thrown myself at you when I woke up? Why would I be here right now telling you I love you?"

"Sorry."

"Jealousy is cute on you, but please don't start a fight with Lotor you are both feisty and would fight to the death. I need you both."

"I just-he just-it's just you two will share something I can never understand."

"You don't want to understand, and I wouldn't want you to understand."

"You spent an eternity with him, how long will I get to spend with you?"

"It doesn't matter the time, only the quality."

"Are you planning on leaving me soon?"

"I don't want to ever leave you."

"Are you planning on leaving me?"

"Not if I can help it."

"I don't want to go through losing you again."

"Nor do I."

"Will you marry me?"

"On the first date huh? I thought you would at least have sex with me first."

"Shut it you idiot."

"Or taken me somewhere romantic and proposed while music played beautifully in the background, birds flying through the air, flowers falling like rain."

"I will do anything for you."

"Wow I have the best boyfriend in the universe."

"Not in all the universes?"

…

"You know actually in one reality Allura and I were a thing."

"Shut up really? I thought she hated you."

"Me too, but then she died, and I was sad for like ever."

"Well I guess I will have to fight Allura."

"But then you came to me, I was sitting in a field of flowers, and you told me that love hurts, it hurts so much. I asked you who broke your heart. You said me. Then we lived happily ever after. We traveled the universe together, it was beautiful."

"Sounds lovely, minus the part about you being sad and you the part about you breaking my heart."

"It was so lovely, you had saved me."

"I will always try and save you."

"Sometimes someone can't be saved without losing yourself."

"I would lose myself for you."

"Please don't."

"But you lost yourself saving us, why can't I?"

"Because my heart has already taken too many hits, I can't risk anymore, especially if they involve you."

"Lance."

"Keith"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Will you marry me?"

"On the first date?"

"Laaanncceeee."

"Keeeeiiiiitttttthhhhhhh."

"Lance McClain, I suffered seven years of thinking you were dead, and I want to make up for the eternity of pain you felt with love for as long as I can give it you."

"Aww the cheesy type huh? But that in a novel, it will make millions."

"Laaaaannnnceccceeeee."

"Keeeeeeeiiiiiiitttttttthhhhhhh."

"How did I fall in love with an idiot like you?"

"How did I fall in love with an idiot who has a mullet?"

"I like my mullet."

"I like it too."

"Stop making fun of it."

"Never."

….

"You know if I didn't return to this reality you would have had a moment of wavering doubt in your love for me and would have slept with Matt."

"Pshh. What? Matt, as in Matt Holt? That idiot has worse hair than me."

"He is a genius, and I actually like his hair, well, not when he cuts it, he should let it grow out, it's hot."

"Stop talking about hot men when I standing here."

"You are lying down."

"Well I'm not inviting Matt to anything, especially not our wedding."

"Ahh a wedding. Can it be at the beach? I always wanted a beach wedding."

"Sure I'm not attached to places like you are."

"When we get married you are joining my family, my home. Which means we will get married at a place that is home."

"Sounds perfect. But you can't have Hunk as your best man."

"Uh yes. Take Shiro."

"No Shiro is going to walk me down the aisle."

"No your mom is. Or maybe Kolivan."

"Ew. How did you know about that."

"Keith I know everything. They have a beautiful son by the way."

"Your joking."

"Nope. Big brother Keith is adorable with with little Yoral."

"Didn't you say that you don't know the future anymore."

"Oof I guess you are right... except Krolia is already pregnant."

"She didn't tell me yet you idiot."

"Sorry you tried to steal my best man."

"Fine Shiro it is. But no sentimental dances."

"Why because you cried when you Shiro danced with his mom? And you balled when Shiro dances with you?"

"Ugh butt out you weren't even really there."

"No but I held onto you while you danced with Shiro."

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I."

"Fine we can have sentimental dances."

"I can't wait, but no knives or weapons."

"Lance we have to have proper security."

"Security against what? The universe is saved."

"I don't know you tell me."

"Exactly, no dangers. We will get married with no weapons."

"Lance. I don't know…"

"The lions will be there."

"Still."

"Come on Keith we all know you would be able to turn anything into a weapon. You'll probably throw flower stems into anyone who tries to ruin our wedding."

"Yes, fine whatever, no weapons, as long as we have a wedding."

"Can it be blue and purple."

"If you say yes."

"Yes."

"Yes, you'll marry me or just yes?"

"Why ask if you don't want the answer?"

"Why won't you say yes, we are planning our wedding right now."

"Because that's what young and in love people do, they talk about their wedding, their future, their home, their kids, their lives."

"Okay well I am twenty-eight, so I am not quite as young as I used to be."

"Still in love though right?"  
"Head over heels for you."

"Well good because Galra age like really slow, so I think you can still be young."

"Young and in love huh? Sounds kinda nice."

"I know huh?"

"Let's act like kids, you can ask me on a date next because I asked you on this one. And I can laugh at the texts you send me, and overthink what to text you. And we can go get a milkshake with two straws. And we can sneak out and meet up in random parts of the galaxy without telling our parents."

"Sounds nice, but you know I have a job right?"

"I mean I think Ezor and Zethird, and the other blades are more than capable of handling it I mean the organization has been around for like five years now right?"

"I know but I am the leader."

"The only thing you are the leader of is the best lesbians in the galaxy."

"...I never thought about that."

"So yes?"

"Yes."

"Are you just saying yes to say yes, or are you saying yes to being young and in love."

"Why ask if you don't want the answer?"

"Like peas in a pod."

"I don't like peas, maybe my matching sock."

"No we are too different, plus you are already perfectly whole on your own. Let's go with your a hat and I am a scarf that happens to match. Both functional on their own, but stylish together."

"So weird."

"You love it."

"I do."

"I do."

"What are you saying I do to?"

"Just practising."

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

"I love you."

"I love me too."

"I hate you again."

"You always hate me, you just love me a little more than you hate me."

"Whatever...I love you."

"I love you too."


	11. Chapter 11

Okay TBH I have had a lot of fun writing this story so I decided to keep writing anyway. Let's see how far we can go!

I just heard from Shiro that the red lion returned, I made my way to the bay, I had yet to really speak with Lance. I understood. While I was family, true blood family, it was his space family that watched him die, he owed them the opportunity to explain, especially to Keith. When I saw both bracelets on his wrist I knew that was it, I knew Lance was gone, I also knew that whatever was left of Lance was in the emo mullet kid.

I took it upon myself that day to make Keith part of the family, it was easy really, my family took in the entire Voltron family in a heartbeat.

"Roni!" my heart fluttered as I turned around to see my wonderful partner.

"Acxa," I said, letting her run up to me and take my hand. I admired her blue and green bracelet on her wrist, representing Earth. She played with mine purple and black to represent space. She looked like she was going to say something, but instead pulled me into a hug.

"I just realized, I-I haven't been here for you, the whole time I have been on the ship, I have been concerned about Marmora, Lotor, and Keith. This is your brother, your brother your family hasn't seen in eleven or more years, I even saw him before you did, and I had been trying to kill hi-"

I cut her off before she could continue, ever since I convinced her to open up to me she has struggled too much with emotions, too much with her guilt of being the bad guy, too much with trying to fix her broken past.

"Acxa, it's okay, we are running an entire universe, you can be busy, you and your fellow sisters have just found out that your old leader and good friend is alive. We are both feeling a lot of things, and it's okay," I lifted myself on my tip toes and kissed her forehead.

"I-I, okay, it's okay. I am going to go to Earth with you, well, actually no, I will be meeting you on Earth, Keith and I have a few things we need to take care of before we take our leave of absence from Marmora," she said resting her forehead against mine.

"I swear the universe always has it out for us doesn't it," I said with my eyes closed, just taking in Acxa's warmth.

"Entropy," she said. I opened my eyes again meeting her blue eyes. "Entropy, as we order the universe, the more disorder in return."

"Entropy," I said, as she lifted my chin to meet her lips. Damn she was perfect. Thank the stars for Lance and Keith bringing me to Acxa.

"I need to find Lotor, Ezor and Zethird want to talk to him," she said once she broke away.

"I need to find Lance," I said.

"Together," she smiled, her lovely smile.

"Together," I said as I continued towards the hangar, we stopped short as we heard heavy whispers in the air. Acxa grabbed my hand and we pushed ourselves into the hall before the corner. I was ensure at first, but I recognized the voices. Lance and Lotor

"You were gone for three hours," a worried hiss from Lotor.

"I was, and it was great," Lance said, I could hear the love on his lips.

"Lance I am happy for you, seeing you smile and laugh again… well it warms my heart, but you have to be wary still, and for my own sanity I need you to stay close," Lotor said, his tone changing to warm.

Acxa lifted a device resembling a mirror, we both saw Lotor with one hand on Lance's shoulder and the other resting on Lance's cheek. Lance's eyes darted from beyond Lotor to directly up at him. His eyes darkened a bit.

"I know, I know, I would feel the same if you had run off without anyway for me to contact you," Lance said before pulling Lotor in for a hug. Acxa put the mirror down. She didn't look at me, I could tell she was trying to feel their emotions, a power she had allowed herself to re-embrace since the end of the war.

"I think I am going to go to bed, have you our rooms yet?" I heard Lance ask, I grabbed Acxa and pulled her down the hall right as Lance and Lotor rounded it. I made it look like we were coming to find them, and not that we had been eavesdropping.

"Lance!" I shouted, before running up to him and hugging him.

"Roni!" he said taking me in with a big hug, we nearly fell over, but Lotor caught Lance's back, bracing both our weights.

"Lotor," Acxa said, I couldn't pin what her voice spelled, it was so ambiguous, so unlike her.

"Acxa, let us, uh- talk," he said before making sure Lance and I had out feet. "Your sister knows where are rooms are, please rest, I have a feeling New Altea will be a whirlwind for all of us."

Acxa broke her hard face for a moment to look at me with a smile, I grabbed Lance's hand and rushed him down the halls of Atlas.

"Roni, how have you been, I see the Garrison has finally noticed your true potential and given you a position worthy of your talents," he said, he is older, physically not by much, just stronger hair a little longer, but it certainly doesn't look like ten years of aging. Then emotionally and mentally I can feel it. No matter how hard he tries to smile or laugh, there is something different about it all.

"Don't try to flatter me, I am pissed. I can't believe you snuck out of the Garrison and then disappeared into space. You know I took a great big Iverson yelling when you disappeared. Then to make matters worse you actually disappeared, I mean fell off the face of the Earth. The Garrison didn't even know what to say. Three students fall of the face of the Earth," I started, I didn't think I was going to yell at him, yet here I am. Reliving the memory of Lance, Lance disappearing. I felt the tears start falling hot and heavy. Lance had stopped walking, but didn't look at me, like he was taking in the beating, and I couldn't stop. "Do you know how hard it was to tell Mom her baby Lance disappeared and was presumed dead. Abuela took it so hard, pop-pop and Rachel had to feed her because she wouldn't eat. Nadia and Sylvio cried for weeks, months, you were always their favorite. Luis and Marco, they felt like they had failed you. Rachel and I, well we missed our stupid younger brother who would braid our hair or help us pick out dresses for dates. Mom and Pop-pop, they were broken, their baby, gone without anything to say, without any explanation."

It was quiet for a moment, the lights in the halls began to dim to indicate it was nearing eleven, the start of the sleep cycle. Lance still refusing to look at me, his voice cracked, "I know."

I didn't say anything. I remember him saying earlier that he had seen lots of things in the space between.

"I know, because every day of the year I spent in space I thought about you all. I thought about how sorry I was. I thought about how I had probably hurt you all, but I couldn't do a single damn thing because the universe had to be falling apart, and I had to help put it back together, even though all I wanted was to be as far away from the blood shed as possible. I know because when I almost died the first time I saw abuelo, abuelo. The first thing I saw when I almost died was my family, because for our familia, familia was first. I know because when I almost died again and I entered the space between it tortured me by showing me all your memories. Watching you tell mom and abuela. Watching pop-pop feed abuela. Watching Luis tell Sylvio and Nadia. Watching Marco work the farm endlessly so he wouldn't have to think about me. Watching you and Rachel go to the beach and pick up seashells to place next to my picture. Watching you go back to the Garrison and work no matter how much you knew the Garrison was hiding things from you, hiding things about me. How even though I disappeared you all knew I wasn't dead," he said, he sputtered a few times, I could feel his pain and I felt myself completely speechless.

"Lance Delmar McClain, we all love you so much. So, so much. You know even when they told us, when they told us you sacrificed yourself and that you were dead Mom didn't believe them, she said she could feel you. She never told anyone except for family, she said she didn't believe them. Even after seeing both bracelets on Keith's wrist, even after seeing Hunk's defeat, even after seeing Pidge cry until she couldn't breath, even after Shiro and Coran confirmed his time of death for the Garrison to place on a plaque, even after your plaque was put up. She refused to believe," I said enveloping him into my hug.

"Veronica I am so sorry, I put you and the family through pain you should have never had to suffer, and every day I feel guilted over it," he said, his knees buckling, I caught him and we lowered slowly to the floor.

"Nene, nuestra mar, don't cry, mom wouldn't like you feeling guilty. She called you our family's defensor, she said we couldn't be selfish with you, which is why you had to go, why you had to go defend the universe," I said, we stayed like that for a while, both of us letting our tears run. When his tears steeled I helped him up.

"You need sleep, come on," I said pulling him along down the hall. If that's how he reacted with just me, how will he be with the rest of the family?

"Roni, te amo," my heart welled, between our family we rarely used 'amo.' Abuelo said we should only use it when we really want to be heard, we can otherwise say 'te quiero,' 'te amo' was for when you had too much, too much to say, too much to feel, and it was the only way to convey too much.

"Lance," I said, holding back the tears again. I planted a kiss on his temple. This kid would be the death of me.

"Congratulations on proposing to Acxa, you two are perfect together," he said, his blue eyes were wide and content. "Congratulations on making a difference in the galaxy, congratulations on finding happiness, congratulations for everything, you have done so much, I am proud to call you hermana, to call you familia."

"Lance Delmar, stop making me cry," I practically shouted before realizing that sleep cycle meant you were supposed to be quiet.

"I love being a heartbreaker Veronica," he said flashing a debonair smile, ugh there's my idiot brother. I punched him in the arm.

Thankfully the Atlas had an entire wing of spare rooms, I walked passed the familiar names, Allura, Coran, Pidge, Keith, and Acxa. Funny, she would be staying in my room tonight, we were very busy lately, which didn't leave us a lot of time together. Lotor's room was next, then finally Lance's.

He walked changed in the restroom, Coran had already stocked Lance's drawer full of clothes, including his apparently favorite Altean linen-silk like pajamas. When he came out he practically crashed into the bed.

"It's been so long since I have slept in a bed," he said solemnly touching the soft sheets and comforter. My mind wandered to thinking about the space between, what happened over there. What was it like. "You don't want to know Veronica, ignorance is… well bliss."

Reading my mind now, I know he didn't get that as a power, he had always read me too easily. I let my smile falter as I walked to sit on the edge of his bed.

"Eleven years is too long," I said, tucking strands of his hair behind his ear.

"Far too long, you can stay in here as long as you like," he said gesturing for the chairs. "I know you waited for me to wake back in medical room."

I just nodded, but before getting up to the chairs I choose to sing instead. I haven't sang since Lance's funeral at the Garrison. He smiled lightly before closing his eyes, we used to sing all the time when we were kids.

Acxa had texted me a while later, telling me Lotor had gone to sleep. I considered leaving Lance's room, but I was sure if I fell asleep I would wake up and he wouldn't be there. Instead Acxa quietly came into Lance's room and she held me as we sat on a chair.

"Lotor is different, better," she whispered to me.

"Lance is different, I don't know if I can say better," I said back. Lotor had been a villain before disappearing into the space between. Lance had been a happy, bright boy before coming out a matured, wise man.

"I can tell you have been crying, were they good tears?"

"Yes, good tears, I missed him," I said, intertwining my fingers with hers.

"Ezor and Zethird made peace with Lotor, Lance changed him, Lance made him better," she said, I smiled, but my mind flicked back to the scene in the hall.

"What is their relationship?" I know she sensed tried sensing their emotions for one another.

"I can't quite figure it out, they love each other, but it is not the same love one has for family, or the same love I have for you, it is hard to understand, I have never felt anything like it," she said kissing my shoulder.

"Does he still love Keith?" I asked, I feared her response, Keith had become family, he visited Earth twice a year for Lance's birthday and Lance's death anniversary. He stayed with us, he always said he wished he could visit more, but right now he is needed in the universe, I could tell it was just his means of coping.

"Yes, he does, it is similar to that of ours, but something is different, again I am not sure what," I sighed in relief at her words, I knew she was relieved too, Keith had become a brother to her.

"This is going to be hard isn't it," I asked.

"Entropy," she responde.

"Entropy."

Acxa had fallen asleep with her face nuzzled into my neck, and right as I was about to doze off, Lance started twitching, my eyes popped back open. I observed for a minute, hoping it would stop, perhaps just a bad nightmare.

He started grunting and let out weak yelps, I rushed up waking Acxa up, I reached for Lance, but Acxa grabbed my hand, pointing at a faint glowing blue line on the back of his neck. The marks on his face started glowing as well, he had kept them hidden since his return.

"What is that?" I asked, terrified, still trying to reach forward, his twitching grew stronger, and his sounds grew to occasional shouts.

"Veronica, promise you won't touch him, I am grabbing Lotor, he is just next door, don't touch Lance, promise me," she said, her voice rushed and full of panic, which only made me feel worse, Lance, my nene, he was in pain, but I knew she was right.

"I-I promise, get Lotor now!" I shouted, before she disappeared into the hall.

Seconds later Lotor came rushing through the door he was dressed in similar robes, but deep violet, his hair was tossed up into a messy bun. His eyes looked wild with worry. He crossed the room in one step and sat next to Lance. He lifted the back of the shirt and cringed, I made my way to look at it, Lance's whole back glowed with faint blue lines that seemed to run across his back like a crack in glass, like a lightning strike. Lotor seeing I was looking quickly pulled the shirt back down.

He focused his attention back on Lance laying him on his back carefully before placing a hand to Lance's forehead and a hand to Lance chest, just like he had back in the medical room. I prepared myself for Lance's screams, but they didn't come, fortunately. Acxa wrapped me into her as Lance slowly stopped twitching and the blue glow left his Altean marks. Lotor removed his hands from him, his own marks glowing faintly.

I watched Lance's eyes flutter open, he wrapped his arms around himself, now shaking as if he were cold. His eyes fixed on nothing in particular.

"Lance," Lotor offered gently. Lance didn't respond, he didn't move at all. We stayed in complete silence for at least a minute or two before Lotor said Lance's name again. This time Lance's eyes fluttered, and readjusted to the room.

"They know," was the only thing that came out of his mouth before he rested his head against Lotor's chest. Lotor's eyes widened for a moment before he wrapped Lance into his arms.

Lotor gave a single nod towards us, Acxa grabbed my hand and tried to pull me into the hall. I resisted, no I couldn't leave. I hadn't forgotten the words Lotor and Lance exchanged when Lance first woke. Something had been hurting Lance, we all stayed quiet about it because no one wanted to know who 'they' was, who had the audacity to hurt our poor Lance.

"Roni please, let us give them some space," Acxa said still pulling me towards the door, she could easily force me out the room, but she wasn't going to do that. I didn't say anything, my eyes stuck on my brother, my brother who was in pain, my brother who had been in too much pain.

"Roni," Lance's voice was muffled and cracked as it came from Lotor's chest. "I need you to go, please."

Lance is different.


	12. Chapter 12

"Queen Allura, to think eleven years ago when you fell out of that cryo-pod I was actually catching a future defender of the universe and the universe's most beautiful queen," Lance, ever the complimenter. I turned to look at him, his eyes said everything they needed to. Lance was different, he was older, wiser, no matter how many jokes he tried to throw out or how much he smiled, he was different. More different than any of us.

"Lance-," I found myself stumbling for the right words, I knew he was making his rounds, I knew that I would have to talk to him, and yet he could have talked to me three days or five weeks from now and I still wouldn't know what to say to him.

"I am sorry Allura," he said, he walked forward and pulled me into a hug, they weren't like Hunk's which melted sadness away, or like Shiro's that gave you strength, Lance's hugs made you feel. They made whatever you were feeling amplify to level three thousand. I let myself lose composure for a moment, we were alone on the observation deck, so no one was around to watch the Queen of Altea lose it.

"Why are you apologizing, it should be me," I said, letting myself weep gently into his shoulder. His voice those years ago, when he saved the castle for Coran and I, the last piece of Altea.

"You have nothing to apologize for, you kept your promise, the universe, it is at peace," he said pulling away smiling. "You saved the universe so many times, you are so amazing, let everyone look up to you and see that all it takes is one person with hope to save all of reality."

"Lance stop, it is you, you who saved reality, you who saved the universe so many times, too many times if you will," I said, I looked at him, and watched a shadow of darkness crossover the bright eyes, before returning to normal. Before he could say anything I felt the urge to say it, "Lance I am sorry, sorry for not saving you from the space between."

He scoffed at me and pushed me away, "Allura I didn't know where I was for years, I thought I was dead, you all thought I was dead. There wasn't a way to save someone from the space between, I am still not even sure how I got out of there."

"You have taken the fall for me too many times Lance," I said reaching out to brush my fingers over his cheeks, he let the Altean marks show, as my finger ran over it his glowed a faint blue, and mine a faint pink.

"I chose to, you had taken the fall too many times for the universe. I couldn't keep watching those around me keep losing everything," he said, he was looking out into the black space surrounding us. "You were all my family, I chose to fall for the people I loved."

I waited with him a moment, I wouldn't devalue his sacrifice any more, he made the choice, and I should just be grateful that it wasn't as permanent as we thought it was going to be.

"Lance, when you woke, you and Lotor spoke about getting away from something, are you safe now?" I asked, I nearly regretted it watching him flinch as I brought it up. He hesitated, looking for the right words, and instantly I knew whatever he said was going to cover up the truth, he was going to lie to me in some way.

"The most painful part of the space between was not being with my family, it hurt and drove me crazy. Now that I am not there and now that I am with my family I am safe," he said. I considered pushing it, pushing that he was lying to me, but his eyes were happy when he said, his smile true. I couldn't take that from him.

"Wormhole jump to Altea, in ten ticks," Veronica's voice called over the comms, I watched his face lift at his sister's voice.

"Lance, when we get to Altea will you let me show you my happiness," I said, because all I wanted in this moment, in these next few days is to be as happy as possible with Lance. To show him how his sacrifice brought peace and happiness and love to the universe.

"I would love to."

"You know the castle of lions, of course," I said smiling as I guided him through the redecorated halls and castle full of life and others.  
"This is our new observatory, stretching all the way to Earth make it one of the two longest telescopes in the Universe, made with the help of Pidge and Coran of course," I said, he looked happy as we walked through the halls, but I could sense there was something off about it. I guess having been away from ten years and coming back to the place you called home and seeing it different wasn't very fun.

"Look we kept all the bedrooms of the famous paladins, it's where the others stay during L&L day too," I said opening his room, it was cleaned weekly by Coran, I never understood why, and I never had the guts to go in it until now.

Lance walked in and touched the walls, the bed, the desk, the familiarity of it all. All of his stuff remained untouched. His face didn't twitch in the slightest, his emotions impossible to read.

"We will get it adjusted with a larger bed, the others were all adjusted a few years back, I will have someone jump on that right away," I said leaving the room, he stayed in there a minute longer, he had remained silent most of the tour of the new castle, and I was about ready to take him outside to see Altea.

"Is there anything else you want to see here before I show you the juniberry fields?" I asked, he turned to me, his eyes soft.

"I need to see Coran's grandfather's study and the teladuv," he said. My heart sunk at his words. No one other than Coran and Lance had been in the study, Coran was generous to share all of my father's notes with me, but never the space, and I had a feeling it wasn't just because of his grandfather, but also because of Lance.

The teladuv was a whole other story. We had fitted the castle with a new one, but it was also home to the 'Memories of Lance.' I couldn't deny Lance of what he wanted to see though, I messaged Coran to tell him Lance wanted to see the workshop. Coran met us across from the juniberry painting, the two of them disappeared into it.

"Allura, I have been looking for you and Lance everywhere, where is Lance," Lotor said, running down the hall. Funny to see him like this, reminds me of my time with him.

"He is with Coran, he should be back soon, what do you need from him?" I ask, just because we had chemistry in the past doesn't change anything, I did believe he was no longer evil, but that didn't mean he wasn't any less manipulative. I didn't trust him.

"It's really nothing, I just, I had asked him to tell me where he is, I had no idea that he left the Atlas. Pidge also gave me communicators for both of us, that way we can stay in contact," Lotor said, he looked stressed, and like he hadn't been getting much sleep. I knew so much about him, not all of his facades could get past me.

"You didn't sleep well last night," I said, he jumped back a bit, he took a moment to entirely recompose himself realizing he just came running down the hall begging for Lance.

"Well sleep isn't particularly easy when there are many things to have nightmares about," he said, there he was, composed Lotor, Lotor who had something to hide.

"I hope the beds castle of lions beds were comfy because this is where you will be staying for the next few days," I said, I wondered what I could get out of him, members of old Voltron, minus Lance agreed to meet up to discuss Lance and Lotor for tonight. We felt bad about excluding him, but there was too much they were hiding from us.

"Yes, quite comfy, can I get a room near Lance," he asks, looking at the juniberry painting.

"Well, we have Lance's old room outfitted for him, and your old room outfitted for you," I said, I wonder why he needed a room near Lance. Well I guess he didn't make it sound like a need, more of a want, but still.

"Quite far from one another," he said, quietly.

"Do you need a room near Lance's" I ask, but before he can answer Coran and Lance come up laughing, Lance with a satchel. I missed both their smiles so much.

"Lotor what are you doing here?" Lance said walking over to Lotor, who was preparing to answer my last question.

"I couldn't find you on the Atlas when someone told me you had come to the Altean surface," Lotor steered himself towards Lance. Lance was a head shorter, and probably wouldn't last long in a fist-fight with Lotor, but he stayed his ground.

"Lotor, I was a five dobosh drop away, everything is fine," Lance said cooly, but there was tension in the air. Lotor handed him the communicator bracelet.

"Let me know before you leave my general vicinity, please," the please came out in a hiss. Lance nodded happily putting the watch on.

"Hey Lotor, Allura and I are leaving this general vicinity to go down about twenty floors," he said, laughing, hmph, Lance always there to turn whatever was happening into a joke.

"Actually, Allura would you mind if I joined you on this tour, Altea really did hold a special place in my heart," Lotor asked, earning him an interesting glare from Lance. I nodded, the more time I can spend observing them the better.

"But Allura, this was our special tour, not ours plus Lotor," Lance pouted.

"We put up with each other for an eternity, I think you can handle a little longer," Lotor said wrapping his arms around Lance's waist and hoisting him into the air. They both smiled for a moment before realizing they were in mine and Coran's presence still. They both resumed their usual persona. Lance made fun of Lotor for being a sensitive guy at heart while Lotor walked four steps behind Lance and I. Coran ran off to finish L&L preparations.

I walked slowly into the hall of the teladuv, I hadn't been here in over a year, it was the only time anyone really visited it anymore, L&L day. Lance's death day was mourned on Earth with his family. The hall was filled with pictures, small notes of memories with the blue paladin, his quotes, his persona. Memorabilia, prizes, gifts littered the hall from those who came on L&L day. Lance touched the heart of more people than he realized. The lights came on, and Lance gasped, he walked through the hall, fingers brushing against the many notes and pictures on the walls. Lotor took to examining some of them as well. I stayed where I was, I had spent too many days in here crying.

I remember having thought that the universe was too good for Lance, we didn't deserve his many sacrifices, not just when he saved me or he saved the castle. From leaving his family, his home to fight the war. To agreeing to fight in the war despite being so young. To his happy persona always trying to cheer everyone else up. To going out of his way to meet new people and learn everything he can about them. To protecting the whole universe and everyone in it.

"All of this, I can't believe it, I never let the space between show me this, and now I know why," Lance said. Did he say let? I let it slide because he was crying, running his fingers over a note written by his niece and nephew. They came on the first L&L day, the whole family did, the day we opened the hall to be memorial to Lance.

Lotor kneeled next to him and pulled him into a hug, I followed in pursuit, we stayed like that for a while. Lance's tears steeled, before he took both of our hands and walked further down the hall, he needed to see the teladuv. He had determination in his eyes.

"It's time" he said, before opening the door. It wasn't an exact replica, but it was pretty close to the same. He held his breath as he stepped into the control room.

Lance reached to touch the console before he fell to the ground, Lotor dove to catch him, "Allura I think you should leave for a moment." Lotor's voice had been cold and hard, no emotions, no nothing. I didn't leave, my eyes fixed on my blue-eyed friend. I wanted to help him, what was wrong, Lance started to convulse, just as Pidge described, it was short, Lance opened his eyes a second later.

"Did I scare you big guy?" Lance said laughing before bopping Lotor's nose. I expected Lotor to push Lance off of his lap, but instead he helped the boy stand, who was still shaking.

"Oh Allura, sorry about that, bad memories I guess, I didn't think it would catch me that off guard," he says laughing, does he really think that laughing his problems away fixes everything? That it won't worry me?

"Understandable, let me know if Coran needs to check up on you," I say trying to play it off as well. He didn't want us to think it was a big deal.

"I think I am ready to see New Altea now," he said, walking towards me and taking my hand, he seemed to have the shakes under control now. I put my best smile.

"Allura, this place is truly beautiful, I am sorry you had to spend a day without it," he said, we sat on one pink cliffs that looked over the city of Alfor. The rest of the planet remained rather untouched by sophisticated life, and I hoped to keep it that way, to keep the natural beauty and ecosystems running.

"It is because of you and Lotor this place even exists, so thank you," I say glancing backwards at Lotor who had decided to tag along for this part too.

"You were able to draw her to the center of realities, if you hadn't Lotor wouldn't have been able to reach out to Honerva," Lance said taking my hand in his. He squeezed it warmly.

I knew we would just keep going back and forth trying to tell the other that their achievements were great, so I just looked at him and smiled. He was real, he wasn't going anywhere.

"Allura, you spent the day with him, anything to report," Keith asked, he had been nervously pacing around the old Paladin lounge since he arrived, nearly ten doboshes ago. He hadn't seen Lance in the past twenty-four hours, and it was taking a toll on him. Veronica, who had been invited on Keith's account explained that it was a natural fear they both shared that if they looked away he would vanish before their eyes. I understood it to an extent, but Veronica and Keith, they suffered greater than the rest of us.

"Why are we here again?" Hunk asked. "Going behind Lance's back, meeting without him, talking about him, I understand you all have his best interest at heart, but it doesn't feel right. If Lance thought it was important to tell us he would."

His opinion was alone, no one seconded it, because we all wanted to know. We all needed to know. Hunk looked to Veronica, in hopes for support, but it wasn't hard to tell something was bothering her, she hadn't left Acxa's side all day.

"Hunk, you know I would normally agree with you. Lance deserves his privacy, you have all heard him talk about the space between, dark things happened to him there. Bu-but last night…" she started crying suddenly. Keith stopped in his steps and stared daggers in her direction, earning him Acxa's back the fuck off look. Acxa leaned into to Veronica before nodding.

"Last night, Lance started to convulse in his sleep, he was crying and screaming, similar to that when he woke in the medical bay," Acxa said, Keith looked ready to fight the air before him because he had no real enemy.

"Yes, I took him to the teladuv room today, he reached for the console and started to convulse, short, maybe twenty ticks, and he was back up again," I said, Keith turned his eye daggers to me.

"No, no you don't understand, he didn't just convulse," Veronica said, gathering her strength, she was pushing herself so hard to get the truth out. "He was glowing, his Altean marks and awful marks on his back, and it didn't last twenty ticks, it lasted doboshes, he was crying and screaming."

"Lotor had to come in, he did the weird hand thing again, and he was okay, well let's not say okay, he was just not convulsing," Acxa added.

"Did no one feel like it was relevant to tell me any of these things?" Keith shouted throwing his hands in the air. Shiro crossed the room and pulled Keith into a hug.

"Shut the hell up Keith, we get it, you two are in love or whatever, but these matters concern all of us, we all care for Lance," Pidge snapped. Shiro was holding Keith back now.

"Look, this is clearly difficult for all of us, a member of our family rose from the dead with a story far scarier than death," Shiro said, trying to ease the tension in the room.

"Perhaps we should consider Hunk's option, if trying to sneak around behind Lance's back and figure out what happened is only going to cause rifts between the group than maybe we should just wait for Lance to tell us," Coran said closing his tablet, which he had been making a suspicious amount of notes on.

"Thank you Coran," Hunk said, standing up and getting ready to leave. "Look, Lance is my best friend, the only person here who knows him better than me is Veronica, sorry Keith, but it's true. Lance isn't ready to talk about it, and I don't know if he ever will be, but the more we bring it up, the more we risk these convulsing episodes, I would rather just help Lance feel at home again, to not make him feel like he has lost ten years of time in whatever hell he was in."

He left, Veronica and Acxa followed shortly after. Pidge stomped out of the room. Shiro encouraged Keith to get a breath of fresh air.

"Coran what do you know," I said, letting my words fill the air, letting Coran know he wasn't going to get away with being his usually fly on the wall self.

"Allura, I am a doctor, I was the primary care-giver of Lance, I have only assumed that position again," he said, hmm.

"Interesting, is Lance aware that you assume that position again?" I said catching him off guard.

"I never asked him when I first assumed the position, so I didn't realize I needed his permission," Coran responded.

"Coran you know something," I said.

"I might, but until I know what is it, it is staying with me," he said back, he made his way over to me.

"Coran is he alright?"

"I don't think anyone who had been through what he has is alright."


	13. Chapter 13

"Shiro we haven't really had a moment alone since that first night, I am worried about him, and I know he has a lot of other things going on, I just want to be there for him, but I don't know how," Keith was crying, not a lot, he never cried a lot, he didn't give himself that luxury. I wrapped an arm around him.

"I asked him to marry me, and he didn't say yes, he didn't say no, but still. I don't understand what our relationship is, and yet there is a fear nagging me, telling me he might not be here for very long. I can't lose him again, not right after getting him back," he cried out, I didn't know what to say. I was the leader of Voltron, I was the captain of the Atlas, I was the father figure of their Voltron family, and yet I was just as stunned, confused, and lost as everyone else.

Lance was more than a little brother, or son. He was the one who reminded me what it meant to have a family again, what drove me to keep everyone safe, who brought me out of my dark hell of memories and reminded me to focus on the new ones. Since Lance got back I had actually been avoiding him, I know that my clone was anything but kind to Lance, and yet Lance still called me his hero. How was I hero if I just let Lance suffer in the space between? How was I hero if I didn't even know how to handle this situation?

"I am so worried about him, and it feels like I can't do anything to help him. He glows? He has crippling nightmares? He has extreme PTSD? He's hiding so much from us with that big stupid smile of his. How can I help him Shiro?" Keith said. Finally grabbed him by both shoulders.

"Keith we can't force him to open to us, we can only be there for him when he needs it from us and that is going to have to be good enough for all of us. If there is anything Lance needs right now it is a supportive family, and we can be that," I say, Keith looks surprised by my sudden outburst, but takes it all in, letting it soak.

He pushed himself into a hug, he cried a little bit harder, mostly small heaves, I hated seeing the person closest to true family hurting.

"What about him and Lotor, do you think they love each other?" he said quietly, my heart fell as he said it. The question running through many heads, what was the relationship of Lance and Lotor. Lotor never seemed to leave his side unless Lance yelled at him to leave him alone. Lotor was the only one capable of ending Lance's nightmares. They can exchange entire conversations with one look at each other.

"You know Lance is only capable of loving people," I say, at a loss for a good answer.

"You know that's not what I meant," Keith said.

"Well you are the one he took on a romantic date, so I would say you are probably the best at gauging Lance's feelings," I said, Keith had come running to him afterwards, a few tears, mostly jitters. They had said they loved each other many times, and Keith was positive that his happy ending was finally here.

"We haven't gone on one since," Keith said pulling away from Shiro finally. His look was distant, he was hurting.

I remember on the first L&L day how Keith was trying so hard to stay strong, he convinced himself Lance was still out there and was working with scientists from every planet to find a solution.

The second one many of the scientists returned empty handed, Keith went to Pidge and for an entire year of no sleep and hardly any eating tried to find answers. Pidge told Keith it was time to move on. Keith didn't take that well, he went rogue for a few years. Just flying, I tried to reach out to him, but he didn't care.

The third year Keith didn't even show up to L&L day, it marked the fifth year since they had last seen Lance.

The fourth year, he came back, he was looking for something to do, everyone else had found their feet. I tried to offer him a position on the Atlas, but he said he couldn't. He was trying to dull the pain, being around so many that Lance touched would only hurt more. He and Acxa built the blade up again, making it the humanitarian group it is now.

The fifth year, Keith smiled again. He told me he was happy now, he knew how to appreciate Lance's loss. He also told me he was never going to love someone again, his heart belonged to Lance and Lance alone.

Here we are the the sixth year of L&L to celebrate seven years since the realities were saved. Keith is broken again.

"You know what I am going to ask him on a date, I wonder where I should take him, what we should do. It's weird you know, he liked to call it being young and in love, I kind of like it, stars did he make our lives better and brighter," with all that Keith popped up gave me good hug and ran out the door. Well that was one less problem to deal with. Shiro still needed to talk to Lance, he was the only one who hadn't spent any time alone with Lance. He knew it was coming, Lance even spent a bit with Curtis.

Curtis told me he was everything I said and more, he played the song Lance wrote those years ago, Lance cried like a baby. I wasn't surprised to hear. Curtis told me to take initiative and talk to Lance, I knew he was right, but there was too much I wanted to say to him, and I had no idea how to say any of it.

I walked to the highest balcony of the castle of lions grand hall, only to find Lace sitting there. The universe was telling me to talk to him.

"Shiro," he said, not even turning around, did the space between give him superpowers? He turned to meet my eyes, "Your feet fall a certain way, I could feel it in the tile, you always press a bit heavier with your right foot."

I looked at him, I had never noticed that before, but if it was heavy enough for him to feel it the ground maybe it was bad.

"Stop freaking out, it's not that bad, I was always attuned to my surroundings, I never did much on the ship before I disappeared, so I picked up on all sorts of things. I could recognize the steps of you, Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Coran, and Allura. Perhaps even Matt and Sam, Kollivan probably," he said. He gestured for me to come to the balcony with him.

He stood up and grabbed the railing, "Shiro, ten years is a long time, I never thought I would see the castle of lions again when I left, let alone see it full of people."

I remember the first L&L day, I remember the strange feeling of other people in the castle, more than just the seven of us, it was nice in a way, such a big castle finally being filled, but it also had been our home for years and now strangers walked the halls.

"How are you Shiro?" he asked, his eyes falling on to me again. There was so much I wanted to say and I didn't know how to say any of it. So instead I pulled him into a hug. I am not sure how long we stayed there, but it was exactly what I needed. Solidifying he was there, he was really there. He wasn't dead, he was right here.

"Relieved," I whispered into his hair.

"Me too, I hated it in there, I hated being so far from all of you, I hated watching your lives like it was a damn TV show," he said into my chest, I squeezed him tighter with each word. He was eighteen when he disappeared, he didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve to leave the world so young.

"It wasn't fair, Lance, and I am sorry, you-you deserved better," I said, the tears finally coming. I hadn't cried since the day we found them floating there in space.

"The universe isn't fair, and we all deserved better, you think you deserved to lose an arm, to die, to be pulled away from earth, be pulled away from those you love, to fight in a war you didn't ask for? None of that is fair, but it did so much for us. You learned to stop and forge a family. You learned balance. You learned love. I, I learned a lot too, and I became better," he said, I felt his words sink in. I wanted to help him. I wanted to take away all of his problems all of his pain. Perhaps that was why I had been avoiding talking to him, not so much I wouldn't know what to say, but because everyone else who talked to him learned an inkling of the pain he had been through.

"Are you okay?" I asked, I pushed him from our hug and looked him in the eyes, they were sad, I hated it.

"Shiro, right here, right now, being with all of you, I am okay. I am sad I missed out on seven years of your lives and ten years of my family's, but I am more happy that I even had the chance to come back, I could have been stuck there forever."

"If you need to talk to someone Lance, about what happened in there, I am here for you, you can tell me anything," I thought back to when Lotor addressed us in the hallway of the Atlas. He had claimed it was none of our business unless Lance wanted us to be concerned, but I wanted to be concerned. Lotor had mentioned that Lance had been through worse than him, hadn't they been in there together?

"I know Shiro, I- I might take you up on that, but not right now, it's still too fresh," he says, I pull him into another hug. It hurt. Thinking about the pain he was going through.

"Lance you'll let me know if you need anything right, I-I don't want to lose you again, in any respect. I don't want you to die, disappear, or lose yourself," I said. He pulled away this time, he grabbed onto the railing of the balcony, looking up at paintings on the top of the dome.

"I am trying, trying not to lose myself. Things changed me in there, and trust me I will try my absolute best not to die or disappear. There are too many lost years for me to go so quickly again," he said, there was a fiery determination in him.

I rested my hand on his back and he flinched a bit, I pulled away, remembering what Veronica had said about his back, "Are you hurt?"

"I always took the worst damage to my back, it is sensitive, but I am fine," he said, the determination lost, and his voice flat.

"Lance, are you hurt?" I ask again, if he is sustaining actual injuries that need medical attention then they need to be cared for, mental injuries I cannot force help.

"Shiro, that is like asking if you are hurt, you don't have an arm, you have a scar that rests over your nose, your hair turned all white at the age of twenty-six from stress, you wake from nightmares to this day. You are hurt. I am hurt," he said, there was something darker in the way he said it, I pulled my hand away, that didn't sound like my Lance.

"I know, sorry, I meant to say if you have physical injuries that need tending to you should get them tended to," I said, instead.

"Don't worry, just because I was dead for ten years doesn't mean I am going to let myself fall apart," he said. He hadn't looked at me in a while, and I found it concerning, but I knew he had lots of things on his mind.

"Lance!" a voice snarled from behind, that name called in his particular voice was all too common lately, I turned to see the brooding purple figure in the archway.

"Lotor," Lance responded flatly, refusing to turn around.

"You were supposed to meet me thirty doboshes ago, and I have been searching for you all over this damn castle," Lotor said.

"Did anyone die in those thiry doboshes?" Lance asked, still showing little to no emotion.

"Lance, this isn't funny. Now do you mind?" he snapped reaching forward to grab Lance's hand.

"Well I was having a fine conversation with Shiro before you came, so I mind a little, but I have good feeling you aren't going to leave me alone until I come with you, so," Lance said turning around to face Lotor. Lotor's hard eyes softened when he looked at Lance. It was like they could read each other, because almost instantly Lance dropped the monotone defensive nature.

"Uh, sorry, yeah we can go. It was good talking to you Shiro, let's grab dinner or drinks sometime," Lance said before swiftly going down the hall, Lotor in tow.

What were they hiding? I wanted to know, but I knew I shouldn't push it. Plus Lance's mood swings had me feeling wary. I tried to shake the feeling. I knew Lance was different, he had to be, you don't come back from something like that not changed, just like he said about the hurting. We were both hurt, still, haunted by what happened, still carrying the scars.

"Shiro?" a voice called, I looked over the balcony railing, a few floors below was Curtis. I smiled and told him to wait there.

"Curtis Michael-Shirogane," I said grabbing his hand and pulling him close, he pushed his chin up and kissed my lips.

"You cheesy bucket you, did you speak to Lance, I thought I heard his voice up there, well actually Lotor's voice," he said, wrapping his arm around my waist, I followed and we walked down the halls.

"Yes, I did," I said, still unsure what I was supposed to take away from it.

"I am proud of you, I know it wasn't easy," he said, Curtis had been my rock for so long, even before we started dating, I would irrationally take out my anger on the bridge crew, Curtis was the only one who could bring me down.

"I just feel like I can't do anything to help him," I blurted out, harsher than I realized. Curtis stopped walking and grabbed both my hands.

"Takashi, what are you going to do? Go back in time, go so far back in time that you stop the Galra from ever lashing out? The only help you can give him is being for him now when he needs it. I know it is frustrating, he seems like he is bottling it all up inside, but you can't force it out of him, and you definitely can't force the help on him. He looks up to you, and I bet that just having talked to you is helping him. I have watched he started dropping the facade of fake happiness since slowly opening up to people, which seeing him sad is hard, but not as hard as him trying to fake it," Curtis said, he was squeezing my hands warmly.

I let the words in, always my rock. "Thank you Curtis, I-I needed to hear that, I needed to hear it from you."


	14. Chapter 14

"-Lance I am worried, it gets worse every night, and you have had five episodes in the last three days," I steeled hearing Lotor's voice and the mention of Lance's name. In my defense I cared less about what happened in there and more about Lance's safety right now.

"Look you know it's been hard on me, coming back after ten years, everyone wanting to talk to us about what happened in there, and then my dreams reliving the space between hasn't been particularly fun. But I am sure it will start to taper off," Lance said.

"I would really enjoy if you could keep me around, I know it's annoying, like I some shadow following you, but I am worried. What if something happens and I am not around?" Lotor responded, I took a peak around the corner, they were sitting on opposite sides of the hall, Lotor staring intently at Lance while Lance ran his fingers through his hair.

"Lotor I appreciate you being worried and I like having you around me, but I am teaching both of us a lesson of distance, and you clearly are struggling with it more than I am," Lance said.

"Real classic, I wonder why I am struggling with it when you have collapsed so many times and you wake up every night screaming. Can't you just sleep in my room please? Or let me sleep in yours?"

"Lotor I can't rely on you, not anymore," Lance said, his voice sounded pained.

Lotor stood up quickly and grabbed Lance lifting him off the ground and pushing him into the wall, "Don't ever say that again, you can rely on others Lance, and I am not going to give you a choice when it comes to me. We have to rely on each other. We have seen things, been through things no one else can even fathom or understand. You saved me in there, now it's my turn. Stop closing everyone out just because of what happened, you aren't going to stop them on your own."

Lance hugged Lotor, Lotor rubbed Lance's back and placed a kiss on his head.

"I-I am sorry, it's just the-the," Lance stuttered before Lotor stopped him.

"You are sure there is no one we can turn to? No one who can help? The space between changed you, physically and mentally," Lotor said softly, a gentle and caring pur.

"No one knows what the space between is, we barely know what it is, who can help me?" Lance said, shuddering.

"I don't know, I just, I hate watching you carry the weight of what happened there," Lotor said, lifting Lance's chin up, he carefully brushed at Lance's cheeks revealing his Altean marks which went from a faint glowing blue to a bright white. Lotor's head drooped. "It's still affecting you, maybe if we can explain to someone what happened, they can try to guess, they can make steps to figuring out what happen-"

Lance pulled away from Lotor's embrace, "I don't want to do that, I don't want to be experimented on until we find the answers, I don't want the people I love and care about to worry about this, and that includes you. There aren't answers, so stop thinking there are."

"Lance-"

"L&L day festivities have already began, Allura asked for me to be present at the concert, if you need me I will be there. Make sure you show up for the dinner, Coran said it was tradition for the Voltron family. You aren't the villain anymore," Lance said before disappearing down one of the others halls.

Lotor let his head hand, I made a split second decision, it may have not been the best idea, but I couldn't help myself.

"Lotor," I called, bringing myself around the corner, he jumped assuming he was alone, he reached up and wiped something from his face before looking at me.

"Coran," he said, mustering his best Lotor he could.

"I heard it all," I said, Lotor reached out and pushed me against the wall, he started growling.

"You heard nothing, understood?"

"Don't write me off so quickly, I won't tell a soul, but I am your best option for helping Lance, he and I, we have a unique bond, he is like the son I never had. Please let me help," I pleaded, Lotor and I had never been close, even when he supposedly on our side. I didn't trust him, but I see now he has changed, and whatever relationship he has with Lance he clearly cares for him.

"He said he didn't want it, I have to respect his decision," Lotor said letting go of me and looking the direction Lance disappeared to.

"How worried are you for his health?" I asked, Lotor's blue eyes glazed over as he looked towards me.

"I-I am quite concerned, not just because I don't know the status of it, but he is refusing to address it," Lotor said, quietly, almost as if he didn't want to admit it.

"Then help me, help him. He said he doesn't want to worry those who love him, this will stay between you and I. He said there aren't answers, let's find out if there are, and then we can go to him. He won't like us working behind his back, but I think it is our best option. If I find something, anything we can bring it to him," I offered, hoping that Lotor would take the chance.

Lotor looked at me, his blue eyes now clear and serious, "I think Lance would trust you, and that is why I am going to trust you. You have a deal."

"Welcome to the L&L galactic gathering!" I shouted over the mic, the shouts filled the air, it was our biggest L&L day since the first one, my heart swelled at the foreign and familiar faces.

"As many of you know the heroes our day is named after have made a miraculous return from the space between realites. The universe works in funny ways, and we are fortunate to welcome Lance and Lotor, defenders of the universe," I shout again, motioning for the two to come onto the stage. Lance looks as comfortable as ever dressed in royal Altean robes. Lotor looks a little more reluctant, but Lance takes his hand. The two exchange a firm nod.

Applause and shouts erupt from the crowd as the pair step onto the stage. Who would have ever thought this day would come? Allura and Merken smile at me from their seats in the front. Keith looks happy, but is eyeing Lotor and Lance carefully, understandably, the more I have seen the two interact, but that is none of my business.

I hand the microphone to Lance, and walk behind the curtains. Romelle happily hands me water, "It is a miracle, I only met Lance for a moment, but he seemed like a hero back then, and while Lotor did horrible things to my family, I can really see he was changed with Lance at his side."

"They have quite the dynamic huh?" I ask, wondering if Romelle has seen anything.

"Yes, almost romantic, every time I see them, but it is like there is a line neither of them are crossing," she says, she was always an observant one.

"Yes, and Lance seems to still have strong feelings towards Keith," I say.

"Ahh, yes," she shrieks lightly. "Keith is planning a date for Lance for tomorrow night."

Perfect, Lotor and I can meet then.

"How exciting, they both deserve happiness," I say before bringing my attention back to the stage. Lance is crying, but a happy cry, he always had a knack for showbiz.

"I can't believe all of you came out here today to celebrate peace, those ten years ago when I thought I took my life this was the dream I had for our universe, and I couldn't be happier to see it in real life to stand here before all of you and see the happiness," Lance says, blowing kisses and catching flowers.

He holds up one of the juniberry flowers, "To Peace!"

"TO PEACE," the crowd follows in pursuit.

I walk back to the stage, and take the mic, thanking Lance and Lotor, "Lance, Lotor, Voltron members, and other Voltron Alliance members will be in the castle of lions for the Peace Ball tonight, we welcome all of you to join us, thank you."

The Peace Ball had always been missing something, and it was Lance. I look to him as he hugs Lotor, let's hope his goofball tendencies haven't all gone.

"Care to dance," Lance's voice calls from behind me.

"What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be down there, enjoying the party," I say gesturing several floors down to the grand entrance floor completely flooded with people in gowns, costumes, and suits.

I look over Lance myself, he wears a similar look to that of Shiro and Hunk, a Earth tux as they called it with a blue bowtie and a blue Altean shoulder cap and cape. They complimented his eyes and personality, I smiled fondly at him.

"Well shouldn't you be showing all the guests your dance moves?" Lance said taking my hands and spinning me, I laughed. Looks like he still did have some old Lance in him.

We had a brief moment together in the workshop a few days ago. He rummaged through his own notebook, reminiscing in all the notes he took. He told me was happy to hear that I found my home again.

"You know me, I tend to enjoy the background, if I didn't I would have never found you those years ago during the Arusian dance party," I say recalling the night that turned south all too quickly.

"And you see how well that ended last time, I don't think the explosions are supposed to happen so close to the guests," he said laughing. "Come Coran join me on the dance floor will you?"

I nodded, and we made our way down through the crowded halls, the guests often stopping Lance and asking for a photo. He happily obliged, he was always had quite the fan base.

"Finally the dance floor," he said, spinning me around. I laughed and spun him as well, we somehow made our way to the center, where we found Allura and Merken dancing, both in dazzling attire, I wonder if she knows how proud her father would be of her.

"Lance!" Allura calls happily as she and Merken slow dance despite the pace of the song.

"Allura, Merken, you two need to work on your dancing, just because you are queen and soon-to-be King doesn't mean you can't have fun," Lance says.

"Tell her how much she looks like her mother," Lance whispered to me before spinning me off and stealing Merken.

"You can't trust him with anyone now can you?" she says eyeing her partner cautiously, they both have massive smiles plastered on their faces. I liked Merken, I had been skeptical at first, but he had only shown that he had not only Allura, but all of Altea's best interest at heart, I know they will make for a great royal couple.

"Allura, Lance wanted me to tell you that you look so much like your mother," I say, I know he meant for me to say it, but I have something else to tell her. She blushes lightly.

"He really did see a lot in there didn't he?" she said, her voice echoing slight concern, but mostly happiness.

"Yes, he did, and I wanted to tell you that you remind me of your mother and your father, they would be so proud of you if they could be here right now," I say, she looks up at me, her marks flowing faintly, she tucks her head into my shoulder.

"Thank you Coran," she says. I rub my hand on her back. Allura will always be family, the closest thing I have to family.

The song changes and Lance steals Allura for a bit. I return to a less far away balcony, I enjoy observing.

I watch as Lance passes Allura off to Shiro, he brings Lotor to the dance floor, for a more intimate song, earning the two of them quite a few eyes. Keith pulls through and asks for a dance, Lance's whole face lights up.

The two dance for a long, long time. Keith began wearing traditional Galran attire to match his mother's who was usually his date. Lance actually found her later in the ball and danced with her too, the two of them sharing what looked like a deep conversation. Lance moved on to dance with Acxa, probably delivering the brother speech and then danced with Veronica. I could tell the two had been peas on a pod while growing up, they cried for a moment and then quickly carried on with boisterous dancing. Lance danced with Hunk, both of them shedding tears and with Shay. Even Matt got a dance, deciding to come to the L&L festivities hearing of Lance's return. My favorite dance though, belonged to Lance and Pidge, they had a unique relationship, brother and sister not by blood, but purely bond, their fair share of teasing one another, but also sharing many memories and moments, even before Voltron.

The ball reached Sunset, indicating an end of the festivities for the public. I smiled, now began my favorite part. Our usual table of six has been expanded to sit two extras. Hunk had been rushing to the kitchen every so often to ensure the preparation of food was going perfectly. Even Keith had joined in on dinner preparation this year. I think it has something to do with asking Lance on a date. Everyone had gone out of their way to contribute to this year's dinner.

I watched my seven others leave the ball area, Merken and Romelle would be responsible for watching the ball come to an end.

I made my way to the back of the castle, entering the garden. The lights were perfect as they sat before the statue of Lance and Lotor, and of course mentions of all the alliances and members of Voltron.  
"Is it just me or does it look more beautiful this year?" Allura said finishing her way up the steps.

"It is definitely more beautiful," Keith said, holding Lance's hand tightly.

"I always dreamed of joining you all at this table, I saw it in the space between, all of you chatting and talking, I am glad you didn't completely go your separate ways," he said wiping a small tear away.

Shiro, Pidge, and Keith came in for a hung around the blue-eyed boy,

"But Keith don't think I didn't notice you missed one year," he pulled away and punched the raven haired boy.

"Hey, you weren't here, you haven't been, decide to finally make a grand entrance at the sixth year anniversary huh?" Keith said laughing, but the mood soured quickly.

"Trust me, he was here far more than six times, he visited this reality fragment often," Lotor said, taking his seat, I hadn't even noticed him come up the stairs, but his comment only soured the air more.

Lance quickly took over airing out the uncomfortable air, "I am excited to try some of Hunk's greatest creations."

"Indeed, bon appetit," Hunk said coming up the ramp on the back side with some of the castle chefs in tow, plates were set for all of us. Lance sat to the right of Keith, Lotor to the right of him, then Allura, myself, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro. I lifted my glass of the bubbly drink from Earth they called champagne.

"To reunion," I say.

"To peace," Allura says.

"To family," Pidge says.

"To old memories," Hunk says.

"And to new memories," Shiro says.

"To love," Keith says.

"To life," Lotor says.

"To happiness," Lance says, lifting his glass high, his eyes watering again as we all clink our glasses and drink.

"I never thought I would ever see any of you again. I thought I would never taste Hunk's cooking, or touch the grounds of Altea or dance with any of you or see Shiro happy and in love or see Pidge so grown up or see Coran so at home or see Keith so happy. This is the best thing I could have ever asked for," Lance said, Keith reached up this time to steel Lance's tears.

"I never thought our world would see that bright smile of yours again," Allura said, smiling at him.

"I never thought we would be able to laugh with our goofball, laugh so hard that I need to pee or until I cry," Pidge said. Looks like everyone was trying their best to make one another cry.

"I never thought a peaceful world would see it's fierce and loving defender," Shiro said reaching to take Lance's hand.

"I never thought I would see my best friend again, I never thought I would have someone look so happy while eating my food again," Hunk said.

"I never thought those blue eyes would look upon our world again, and especially not with that brightness," I say, his eyes looking up at me, as bright as Earth's oceans.

"I never thought I would be able to hold your hand again, sorry mine is selfish, but I don't care," Keith said taking the hand Shiro was holding. Lance looked at him with love, you would think they were a happy old married couple

"Oh when did you become such a cheesy old man," Lance says slapping Keith on the shoulder, there we go, much better.

"Oh shut it you, I know you are a hopeless romantic," Keith says before dropping to a knee, Lance gasps. "So will you join me for a ride across the Altean countryside tomorrow afternoon?"

"And to think I thought you were going to propose, I guess a ride in the countryside makes a lot sense for a couple that is young and in love. After all you still haven't even kissed me on the lips yet. Guess I was getting to ahead of myself," Lance said, making Keith blush with furious embarrassment as the rest fo the table erupted into laughter.

"Keith still hasn't kissed you yet? Damn Keith, get some game, you have only been pining for this man since you met him," Pidge said, barely staying in her chair.

"Shut it you gremlin before I shut you up, Lance can I get an answer so I can get back to my meal," Keith said, still a bright red.

"I would love to go on a date with you," Lance said pressing a kiss to Keith's cheek. Keith smiled and sat himself back down. Those two were a massive mess.

A few minutes went by of casual chatter, our usual catching up with one another, when it died off again, dessert was being served. Lance grabbed Lotor's hand. Keith's face lit up with jealousy, but tucked it away before Lance could notice.

Lance refilled his glass of champagne and stood up.

"I have somethings I need to say to all of you. The first is an apology, an apology for keeping to myself so much, I realize I have shared minutes of my time in the space between realities with all of you, and that I have scared plenty of you with my spells of PTSD, and that I haven't been open and forward with my experiences in the space between.

"I wish more than anything that I could tell you everything that happened in there, but truly our time in there was an eternity, I don't have enough time nor energy to share with you want happened in there. I have made it clear to some of you that you also don't want to know what happened in there, I have yes changed, I don't think you can go through what I did and not change. My greatest wish following me never having to go in there in the first place is being able to be the old Lance, the fun, goofy, carefree Lance. Unfortunately we all had to grow up.

"I know we have lost time and we have changed, but I hope we can get passed this without all of you worrying for me. I know you have been meeting and discussing, trying to figure out what happened to me in there, trying to fix me, trying to take away the pain I experience, but there is nothing you can do."

Everyone was surprised to hear that Lance knew of our secret meetings, please Lance isn't a total idiot, he was always smarter than we gave him credit for.

"I also want to make a clarification about Lotor," Lance said squeezing Lotor's hand again, he had yet to let it go. I watched Keith lean forward in his chair, so eager to hear what Lance was about to say.

"Lotor and I, we have been through a lot together. When the teladuv exploded, he saved me from the debris, had he not I would be a lifeless body floating around the space between realities. In our time there we grew from enemies to allies to friends to I am not even sure what to call it. A lot of things had happened to me in the space between, and Lotor was there for all of it, we have a connection that runs deep. It is why when I stir in the night he is the one to pull me from it, it is why when I fall to a spell of trauma he knows what to do, it is why I take so much comfort in just having him near me. We are practically dependent on each other. We never realized we would be coming back to reality. That is why we are as close as we are, we understand each other in a way no one else ever will."

The whole time Lance spoke he held eye contact with Lotor. Their relationship shouldn't matter so much to the rest of us. Their relationship as unique as the bond the Voltron family shared together.

Lance finished and finally looked away from Lotor, "I hope you can accept my apologies and I hope you can love and respect Lotor as much as I do."

Keith reached for Lance's other hand and held it tight, the rest of the table nodded.

"Let us leave all of this in the past, let us move forward, let us live in happiness," Allura said lifting her glass for another toast. Lance and Lotor both smiled lifting their own glasses, soon everyone was following. Perhaps it was best to move on from the life altering event of Lance not actually being dead.

**Hope y'all are getting ready because I have a Lotor and Lance's ****perspectives**** written ****and**** I love them. Stay tuned. **


	15. Chapter 15

Okay these next two chapters I am really excited about, there will be a few questions answered and show a lot of the dynamic between Lotor and Lance!

"Keith, stop it, you are going to be on Earth in four days time," Lance said pulling away from a hug with Keith.

"I know, I know, I just, I don't want to be so far away from you, what if something happens?" Keith said, I was literally biting my tongue to stop me from insulting him.

"Seriously? Nothing is going to happen on nice peaceful Earth in four days time, plus I have Pidge, Veronica, and Lotor, I think the four of us can handle it," Lance said still working on getting Keith off of him.

"What happened to Keith, he used to be so angry and brooding, and now, I don't even know what this is," Lotor said lifting his hand to the sight, okay I couldn't hold it back anymore. I burst into laughter

"Seriously Keith pull yourself together, red paladin, voltron leader, Blade of Marmora badass, and here you are literally crying like a baby over a four day break from Lance, who mind you still isn't even your boyfriend," I burst out. Keith looked at me with daggers, oh it was too easy to get on his nerves.

"Shut it and let me treasure my loverboy," he said before turning himself back into a hug.

"Keith I am going to have to agree with everyone else, it's time to pull yourself together, we both need to go," Acxa said resting a hand on Keith's shoulder.

Keith whispered something to Lance, making him blush lightly, Lance returned the favor turning Keith as red as the red lion. Ahh, classic love birds.

"Okay now go, jeez, be an adult. I promise I am not going anywhere anytime soon, I will be waiting patiently for you. I will have a new date planned for us," Lance said, succeeding in getting Keith to let go of him.

Lance had demanded we take the red lion, saying it had been too long since he had pilotted, and despite mine and Veronica's protest we were all sitting in the cockpit of red.

"You do remember how to fly right?" Veronica said clutching onto Lance's chair.

"You never forget, please," Lance said, dripping with confidence, and this was how we all died. Just kidding Lance was surprisingly smooth at flying the lion. Atlas opened a wormhole for us and we were back in the Milky Way.

I was happy to see home, Lance excitedly did a few flips in Red, "this is the life."

We landed and were welcomed by the Holts and McClains, both families had become rather close after the whole Earth almost being destroyed incident. Lance was enveloped in a hundred hugs and too many tears. I even felt myself tear up a bit. His niece and nephews so grown, his other brother having gotten married and they were expecting, his parents having aged more with weariness than actual years.

"Where is Abuela?" Lance asked after the tears stopped. I felt my chest tighten a bit, she was still breathing, thankfully, but it wasn't great.

"Oh, well she is actually here at the Garrison, we have some of the most advanced medical equipment on Earth," my dad said resting an arm around Lance's shoulders.

"I know, I just need to see her, she was waited too long," Lance said, his voice spoke so much more than just solemn, it was hard to pinpoint though.

The two families wandered through the halls of the Garrison and we fell upon the medical wing. Lance fell into line between his siblings, all of them providing supportive squeezes.

The door slid open to reveal a variety of tubes and machines keeping Abuela McClain alive, Lance let out a half gasp half sigh and made his way to her. Her eyes were closed, and vitals appeared to be sleeping.

"Lance should we leave you alone?" my mom asked.

"Um, if Pidge and Lotor could stay please," I was stunned, why would he want me in here rather than his family? Everyone else nodded and left, Lotor took a seat on the couch, but I stayed by the door, sure Lance had made a mistake and would ask me to leave at any moment.

"Pidge, I saw, I saw you visit my Abuela once she was admitted here, you would come sit with her and tell her stories about me," Lance said, he really did see a lot while he was in there. That secret had remained between Abuela McClain and I, not even my mom knew.

"Uh, yes, I did," I responded.

"Thank you, it made her so happy," Lance said, tears streaming silently down his face. He turned and reached a hand out for me. I walked forward and took it. "Please, sit with me."

I nodded silently and took his hands which he wrapped around one of his abuela's hands, Lance talked about his abuela often in our year in space, telling me of her cooking, her stories, her memories.

"Abuela, I missed you so much, I thought about you every day, did you hear that I saw abuelo, yeah, he saw me when I almost died the first time. He shook his head at me, I knew it was because I didn't give you enough hugs or kisses before I died, thankfully Allura brought me back. I was just dumb enough to get myself stuck in the space between for ten years. I saw you in there too, you and abuelo, your wedding, it was beautiful. I wish to have one as meaningful as that. Did you meet Keith? He is the person I hope to marry one day, I hope you approve. And of course, you know Pidge, she is like my younger sister, I am glad you two were able to spend so much time together, I wouldn't want it any other way," Lance said, the tears coming down slowly as he spoke, soft and gentle, as if trying not to disturb the air too much. I also found myself crying at the words.

It was abuela who first pointed out the bracelets on Keith's wrists, she demanded a lunch with him, which was a highlight for all of us, awkward Keith. But abuela approved, the ancients only know why.

"Lance," the voice from the bed croaked. Lance leapt up and pushed himself into a hug.

"Abuela," he cried. Damn Lance, his return had led to far too more emotional moments in the last ten days than in the ten years.

"Lance, esta aqui, sabia que no estabas muerto (you are here, I knew you weren't dead) [sorry for the lack of accents, I am really lazy]," she responded weakly, reaching her hand up to pat Lance's head.

"Abuela, I know, you felt it, you felt that I was still around, thank you," Lance cried into his abuela's shoulder.

"Lance, I knew you would come back to me, come back to our family," she said.

"Abuela, thank you for taking care of Pidge," Lance said as she nodded my direction, flashing me a small smile. "This is Lotor, I want you to meet him, he means a lot to me, he helped bring me back to you."

Lotor reluctantly stood and crossed to Abuela's other side, she reached her hand out and squeezed it, "fiercely compassionate, I can feel it, take good care of my Lance." Lotor nodded, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I had never seen him like this, but it was, reassuring.

"Lance, you marry that boy too, I give both of you my blessing," she said, looking back to Lance.

"You like him huh abuela?" Lance said smiling.

"Yes, I think you two will be good for one another," Abuela returned.

"Abuela, it's time huh?" Lance said, the tears intensifying as he squeezed his abuela's hands.

"Si, mi nieto, nuestra mar, it is time," she said. Time for what? Time to go? She couldn't go, Lance just got back!

"Abuela no," I said, catching everyone's attention.

"Yes Katie, it is time, I stayed around this long waiting for nuestra mar to return to the family, and now I can go in peace, and I can join mi amor," she said, reaching for my hand. I took it and cried. She was the person I came to remember Lance with. She always welcomed it, she made me feel less lost without him here.

"I will grab your family Lance," Lotor said, making his way for the door.

"He is special to huh?" Abuela said as soon as Lotor left.

Lance could only nodd.

"Your heart is too big for the universe my nieto," she said resting a kiss on Lance's cheek. I wondered what any of that meant, but clearly it was their moment so I stayed out of it, plus Lance had asked us to just accept the fact that Lotor and him were going to be close, and there was nothing that could chance that.

"Mama, Lance has come home," Lance's mom said running into Abuela's other side, the McClain family gathered round.

"He has, nuestra mar," she said stroking Lance's cheek, Lance's brothers hugged him from the side. Nuestra mar, she had heard them use it before, many times will describing Lance. Veronica explained that it meant _our sea_, but it meant so much more. It wasn't just Lance's deep blue eyes, unique to him in the family, or his affinity to the ocean, or his go with the flow nature. The sea was family, love, heart to the McClain's.

"Mom, yo-you are going now huh?" Lance's dad said taking Abuela's hand.

She nodded slowly. Tears filled everyone's eyes. "No said cries today, our family has received the greatest blessing from the stars and above, and that is why I can now go, I can now leave in peace."

Everyone nodded, trying to hold in their tears. Minutes later the alarms started to blare, signifying her heart starting to stop beating. Lotor reached over and silenced the alarms, as everyone stood with their heads hanging low. Minutes later my dad brought a doctor in and Abuela McClain was pronounced deceased.

Slowly the family trickled out, each of them embracing Lance, thanking him, we all knew Abuela was here far longer than she should have been, we just didn't know why she was holding on so damn hard, not until today.

"Lance you can meet us in the main garage, when you are ready we will go home," Lance's mom said before planting a kiss on his forehead.

Now that everyone had left and it was just Lance, Lotor, and myself again Lotor brought himself behind Lance and hugged him, resting his chin on Lance's head.

"Are you okay?" Lotor asked, so quietly that I barely heard him in the completely silent room standing only a few inches away.

"I am hurting, but I am happy she died this way, rather than in the other old reality," Lance said, I wondered what that meant. I understood he had seen both past and future fragments, but did his arrival disrupt the timeline?

"This is much better," Lotor said pressing a kiss to Lance's head. I swear they were either arguing with each other or trying to take the award for cutest couple.

We waited there a bit, at some point I couldn't handle it anymore and I needed to leave. Lance and Lotor came out a few minutes after me.

"Sorry that took so long, I-" Lance started.

"Lance you don't need to apologize over things like this," I said, hugging him. I was pretty sure the hug was more for me than it was for him, but it didn't matter.

"Come on Pidge, let's go to the beach," Lance said, and we headed for the hangar.

"Holy shit," Lance screamed.

"Language, just because you have been gone for eleven years doesn't mean you won't follow the house rules," Moma McClain yelled back.

"Mom, mom it's raining," Lance said tears in his eyes, everyone stopped what they were doing. Lance closed his eyes and listened the drops patter onto the roof.

"Come Lance," I said, grabbing his hand. "No one ever wants to dance in the rain with me."

The first time it rained when Coran was here he asked what it was, a little terrified at the fact that the sky was crying. I told him it was rain, his face fell, telling me that Lance missed the rain. Ever since every time it rained I took the opportunity to dance in it. I figured it was something Lance would do.

Lance happily ran out the door with me, and there we were, dancing in the rain. He grabbed both my hands and we spun around, the rain only picked up intensity. Lance ran his fingers through his yet hair and looked up to the crying sky.

"It's everything I wanted and more," he cried.

He grabbed my waist and spun me into the air, I couldn't stop laughing, seeing Lance so happy, it was beautiful.

Veronica put on a rain jacket and boots and joined us, followed shortly by Sylvio and Nadia. Soon the rest of the family began to trickle outside. Dancing with us in the rain. The pure enjoyment Lance echoed into everyone else.

"Lance please put on a coat before you get sick," his mom called, he reluctantly agreed, bringing the dance party to an end, but Lance grabbed my hand and we were suddenly running for the beach.

"Pidge, Katie, my little sister, do you know how much I love you?" Lance said, he was splashing his boots in low tide water as we walked.

"Lance," I said, my voice shallow.

"You know I missed my family so much when we went into space, and I hated the war so much, but what really kept me going out there was thinking about you. You had lost your family to the war, and you were far younger than me, and you stayed so strong. I was in awe. So I told myself to pull it together and fight with you," he said wrapping an arm around me.

I leaned into him, the world was brighter now with Lance back in it, "Lance, you were the heart of Voltron you know. You brought us out there, you were the one who took the first big blow, you were the one who taught me a team was more than a team, it was family."

"Oh Pidge stop, you are going to make me cry again, I don't think my body can even produce more tears," he said pretending to wipe tears away.

"Don't even you are the one who has had everyone crying… but it is worth it, because the tears also bring laughs and smiles, true genuine smiles that I haven't seen since you left," I said, poking him in his ticklish spot.

"I am glad to hear that I could bring the smiles back," he said stopping and looking at the never ending ocean. "Pidge, I have no idea how I got back here, and I have no idea what I am going to do with a life."

"What do you mean?" I asked, he had so many options, from staying here with his family, to coming to the Garrison, to working on the Atlas, to living on Atlea, or any other coalition planet, or working with Keith. He could literally go anywhere, he was a galactic hero.

"I am supposed to be dead, I never thought I would be back, so I never planned for a future, and all of you, you all separated, I don't want to be separated from any of you. I know that is selfish, but it's true," he said, pointing at the tattoo on my wrist, the voltron emblem, the whole crew had gotten the tattoo, even Coran and Allura.

"Well you can get married to Keith and you can travel the universe, visiting all of us often, you can still find your purpose, you have plenty of time," I said taking his hand.

"Pidge…" he started, and never finished, he looked like he was going to tell me something, it was still dancing on his tongue.

"Lance?" I said, wondering if I can still pull it out of him.

"It's nothing, sorry," he said before taking of his jacket. He undressed to his boxers before diving into the ocean. I wanted to yell at him about how his mom would be mad, but seeing the way he melded so happily into the water I couldn't do it.

I just stood and watched him take to the waves and blue water.

May he stay happy, he deserves it.


	16. Chapter 16

OMG OMG OMG

Lance returned soaking wet, I should have known I felt shivers running down my back before he even came back. Katie (I never was sure if she would be okay with me calling her by her nickname) threw him under the bus saying he took a dive into the ocean. I happily stayed behind not really wanting to ruin my clothes or hair.

Lance changed and when he came back he cuddled up next to me, trying to steal my heat.

"What are you doing?" I ask, as he rests his head on my chest.

"You are warm, and what it's not like you ever had a problem before cuddling," he says just quiet enough for the others in the room not to hear. I shake my head, seriously? He was the one who asked for space between us, to learn to be less dependent on one another.

"Lance-"

"Shh, just let me rest, I am tired," he said cutting me off.

"Should I take you to your bedroom, I don't want you to have a nightmare in front of everyone," I say, of all the people in the world who didn't deserve to see Lance scream in torturous pain it was his family.

"See such a sweetheart, under those stone layers," he said looking up at me, twirling the white strand of hair that dangled in front of my face. This was not okay in front of his whole family, I had tried to put up barriers for intimate looking actions once we returned to this reality, once I remembered he had feelings for Keith, true deep feelings, ones Lance would never feel for me.

"Lance, come on, stop, your family and Katie's family are here, I don't want them to get the wrong idea," I say trying to push him up and off me, but he grabs my torso and hangs on desperately.

"It's okay, I explained it to Voltron, you and I, we have a special relationship. This is just like in the space between, you would hold me until I fell asleep," Lance whispered back. No, no this was not okay. I was going to get confused and that is not what I wanted, Lance was going to get confused and that was not what I wanted. Keith would be angry, Voltron wouldn't understand. While I was different I was still their old enemy.

I picked Lance up, scooping his knees over one arm and supporting his back with the other, "Could someone point me to a room for Lance."

His mom stood, but Katie quickly jumped up, "I think best if Lance stays in the guest house, uh, he has nightmares, and uh, trust me you don't want to hear them."

Katie quickly guided me outside before she had to say anything else, "There are also rooms big enough for both of you, the guest house was built a few years back to house all of the Voltron extended family when we visited Earth."

"Thank you," I said, Lance had practically fallen asleep in my arms, bringing about new concern, he had been acting rather strangely a bit ago. I wondered if he was getting sick? I didn't know how humans got sick, but I was worried.

She led me through the guest house and to one of the rooms on the far end of the house. She offered two rooms, one with a large bed and one with two smaller ones. I looked at Lance again, ugh, he would be the end of me. I choose the larger bed room and collected blankets to wrap around him.

"Katie what are symptoms of human illnesses?" I asked before she left. She came back into the room and touched her hand to his forehead.

"He does feel a little warm, I will see if the McClain's have anything for fevers," she said turning to leave. "You should hold him, he would like that, he always did it for me when I got sick."

I noted that Katie had been acting more open to me, I am not sure what happened, but I appreciated feeling like I belonged. I cuddled up next to Lance, she was right he was running hot, what an idiot, his mother told him to be careful. Our bodies weren't used to any weather.

My mind flickered back to what Lance said while on the couch, was it the sickness talking? Something else? Surely it had to have been, since returning Lance's heart has been with Keith. He mentioned a special relationship between us, which was hard to deny, we had experienced so much together.

I snuck a hand under the blankets and held Lance's hand, I missed this, I missed it being just him and me, but he was happier here, and well safer.

Fortunately as a Galra and son of Zarkon I never had been used to sleeping much, nightmares can't haunt me if I don't sleep.

"Here, I bought some medicine," Katie said bounding back into the room. "He should have known better, his body probably isn't used to this much exertion, exhaustion or wet weather."

She poured some medicine into a small cup and prodded Lance until he opened his eyes the tiniest amount.

"Pidge!" he said with as much excitement as he could muster, which wasn't much. "I don't feel too good."

"I know, here take this, it should help," she said handing him the cup, but his free hand, because I was still holding the other, reached right passed the medicine and touched her cheek.

"You are here, how are you here Pidge?" Lance said and I jumped up from where I was sitting and pulled Lance up. I brushed a finger of his cheeks to reveal his blue Altean marks, they went from a faint blue to an awful yellow.

"Lotor what is happening?" Katie asked dropping the medicine bottle to the ground.

"Uh-I don't know get me on a video call with Coran now," I shouted, I had never seen yellow marks on Lance before, they were usually blue or white. Katie ran out the room and returned with a video call of Coran pulled up.  
"Coran are you in your workspace?" I asked, I had Lance cradled in my arms, he would occasionally open his eyes and bring his hand to my cheek.

"I am heading there now, no one is around, feel free to start briefing me," Coran said, I could tell he was rushing. I gave him as much information as I could the other day. He said he would start trying to find something, his father and Alfor has done a lot of work on transreality, so there was a chance.

"Well we were dancing in the rain, and then Mama McClain brought out rain gear for Lance, because it was raining pretty hard, then Lance and I went into the beach, but he stripped down to his boxers and dove into the ocean," Katie said for me.

"Yes, and then Lance returned, he was acting a bit strange-"

"What do you mean by strange," Coran said cutting me off.

"Lance was being overly affectionate towards Lotor," Katie said for me again.

"Yes and then Lance was getting tired and afraid of his nightmares getting to him I decided to take him to bed, he fell asleep rather abruptly in my arms, so I asked Katie to check if he was ill," I said.

"He was running a fever, so I went to get some medicine, when I tried to give it to him, he reached out and touched my cheek, asking how I was here," Katie said shuddering again.

"Then I checked his marks, they are glowing yellow," I said as Katie moved the camera to show Lance's mark.

"Yellow?" Coran's voice screamed he didn't know what that meant. Damnit Lance, you aren't allowed to leave me now.

"Coran, is he, is he going to-" Katie started gripping onto Lance's hand until her knuckles began to turn white.

"I don't know, I don't know what's going to happen, keep me close on updates, I will try to find out anything I can in the libraries, Pidge I suggest you start running human diagnostics while I try to find something on my end," Coran said before ending the call. Damnit Coran. I needed answers.

"I'll be right back, just need to grab my laptop," Katie said frantic before running off, she returned fast, which was good, I had an idea.

"Katie, I-I have an idea, but I don't know what will happen when I do it," I said, refusing to look at her. I could sense her uneasiness and fear.

"Is there a chance… a chance you two will disappear?" she asks, her voice shallow.

"Honestly, I have no idea, but I need answers," I said, she stood up and grabbed my hand, forcing my eyes to finally land on her.

"Find out what is wrong," she said, a fierce determination in her eyes, they wavered for a second. "What shall I tell everyone if you two do disappear?"

"Tell them it was me, it was my fault," I said, not even needing a second to think. "I am historically evil."

"Lotor-" she started.

"You know what you need to do, I know what I need to, that is just for if we disappear, we may not," I said, pulling my hand from hers, and pulling Lance's head closer to mine, his eyes fluttered for a second.

"Doesn't the beach look so pretty, I wish I could take you there, the real one, not just the fragments," he whispered to me.

"Lance, take me to you," I say, resting the fingers of my right hand over his head and the fingers of my left hand over his chest.

"You two are so, so foolish," I recognized that voice, the one that terrorized Lance and I for far too long.

"Orinatra," I snarled, waiting for my bearings to come up, but they didn't I was floating in black consciousness. "Where is Lance?"

"In your arms, can't you feel him?" the voice laughed, echoing violently in my head. I tried to feel around for him, but there was nothing, then all of the sudden I could feel him for a second, and then he would be gone again.

"What did you do you monster?" I yelled.

"The real question is what did you two do, you messed up reality, there is no longer a timeline a future timeline, it is being rewritten as we speak," the voice called. I felt Lance appear again and I tried to squeeze and hold on to him, but to no avail.

"Good, now you won't be able to destroy it," I growled at the voice.

"How do you know it won't allow be to destroy it faster? You two crossing over has only opened the door for me," the laughs began, my entire body cringed at the cackles.

"What do you mean?" I ask, I needed answers.

"I do not need to explain anything to you, the best part of this new reality though is that you and Lance will both disappear for good with it," the voice was on my neck, hot and heavy. I shivered it away.

"Leave me alone you monster," I shouted.

"If you wish, I lost use for you after you saved Lance," the voice said wrapping to the other side of my neck. "Bye Lotor."

"Lotor! Lotor! Are you okay?" Katie said shaking me, my eyes popped open I was still holding Lance in my arms, my hands still in place over Lance.

A splitting headache and the chills was all, I nodded.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Once you touched Lance your body began shaking, and Lance kept coming in and out of consciousness, he knew who I was too and that I was real, he kept trying to get to you, but he said something was blocking him."

"Why is he out of it now then?" I asked, looking at Lance, his eyes closed.

"As soon as you came too he passed out again, what is going on?" Katie said, eyes wide with worry.

"I don't really know, I don't know how any of this stuff works," I sputtered out, brushing Lance's hair.

"Well is he going to wake up?" before I could answer her a call was coming through. "It's Coran."

"Lotor! You said you and Lance share a mental and physical connection right?" Coran asked, not bothering with the formalities.

"Yes," I answered.

"Go to the ocean, I mean in the ocean, you need to be in it and through your connection to Lance will it to rain," Coran said.

"You want me to play the role of an Ancient? I don't have that kind of power," I said back, Coran's idea was laughable.

"If my data is correct that rain storm appeared out of nowhere, and as far as I understand weather patterns and Earth climates that does not happen," Coran said.

"My dad had made a comment about the surprise rain storm," Katie said.

"Are you saying Lance somehow gained the power to defy reality?" I said, my jaw dropping.

"It wouldn't be the first, tell me again how you two escaped the space between?" Coran said, leaving it at that. He had a point, Lance used sheer will and raw emotion to draw them out of the space between. Pain, love, fear, hope, and suddenly they were floating in space, real space, space of their own reality.

I reluctantly picked Lance up in my arms rubbing his cheeks again to check the marks, still yellow, "It's better than doing nothing, let's go."

Katie guided me around the McClain house as not to catch their attention as we ran to the beach. Lance hadn't stirred once since I woke, but his heart was still beating and I could feel his mind still running.

"Okay, here goes nothing," I said kicking off my shoes and walking into the water Lance in my arms. Once I felt like Lance was adequately submerged, his face just above the water line, I closed my eyes and felt for him.

I could feel him in my arms, but his mind was so far away. I needed it to come closer, or maybe I needed to go farther. I reached out to him with everything I had. _Lance, come to me, please, I need you_.

_Lotor_, I could hear him, calling back to me, faint and far.

_Lance, I need it to rain, make it rain. Rain_.

Also guess who the next chapter is going to be told from!


	17. Chapter 17

Wow I hope you are as excited for this chapter as I am. I also decided I am moving to posting one chapter every two weeks, I put a lot of thought into these and am a very busy students!

_Rain_.

"Lance, this isn't a fight you will win, give in now," the voice called, breathing onto my lips, I opened my eyes again to the darkness.

_Lance, I need you_.

"Lance, focus on me," the voice called, it beckoned. I shook my head. No, I couldn't go to that monster.

_Rain_.

Rain, it was Lotor's voice calling to him, so warm and familiar, where was Lotor? Where was I? I was in the space between I was sure, but how did I get here, everything seemed so fuzzy.

"Lance, hasn't it become familiar here? This is your home now, the endless possibilities of the space between, isn't it fun here?"

I scoffed, "Fun? This place is a nightmare, and so are you."

_Rain_.

Rain, I hadn't felt the rain in so long, I longed for it, when was the last time the cold droplets kissed his skin, the last time he danced in it.

Recently, it had been recently, not long ago, how? Yet I was sure, I had just danced in it, felt it on my skin. Pidge had been there. She had been real, I had danced with her in the rain, it was recent.

Rain. I imagined it right now, falling on top of me.

"Lance," the voice hissed trying to beckon it towards me.

No, I didn't want the voice, I only wanted the rain.

I felt it, drops falling on my forehead. I looked up and suddenly the darkness faded.

I jolted forward hard, nearly hitting my head against Lotor's, but he only reacted by pulling me into a tight hug. And we were in the ocean? Everything came flooding back to me, I had been out of the space between for over a week and a half now. I had just been dancing in the rain and swimming in the ocean.

"Lance!" Pidge yelled as she jumped into the water with all her clothes on.

"What happened," I asked, my head pounding. I was just in the space between wasn't I? How did I get there?

"Looks like my theory proved true," Coran said, a small video message displaying on Pidge's watch as she threw herself into Lotor and me, nearly toppling the three of us into the water.

"What happened?" I asked again, Lotor kissed my forehead.

"Let's get dried and back to bed first, I am exhausted," he said running a finger over my Altean marks, I caught the illuminating light of them, a strong blue color.

"So my marks they were glowing yellow? What does that even mean?" I asked, running my fingers over them.

"I am not really sure, but I think it has something to do with the Ancients," Coran said. The Ancients? What did that mean?

"Coran you are being super vague right now, and it is super not helping," I yelled, I was curled up under many blankets, Lotor on one side, Pidge on my other.

"Lance first I need to tell you that Coran caught our fight on L&L day, he offered to help, so I told him everything," Lotor said looking away from me.

"You did what?" I said through gritted teeth, we had agreed to keep what happened in there to ourselves, and especially away from those I cared about.

"I had to, you weren't being honest with yourself, and honestly if I hadn't told him maybe you wouldn't be here right now," Lotor said, looking back at me and resting a palm on my cheek. He already told me about my delusional comments from the couch. I cared for Lotor so much, but any feelings I had for him romantically were left in the space between.

"That doesn't take away the fact that you told my secrets," I said taking his hand off me.

"Lance you were always reasonable in the past, maybe you should be reasonable now, Lotor only reached out because he was concerned, we all were, and honestly if Lotor was concerned, then there must have really been something wrong," Pidge said wrapping her arms around mine.

I took a deep breath, I didn't want to think about this anymore, "Whatever, Coran continue."

"If Lotor's memory of the teladuv explosion is correct, it would appear your body absorbed some sort of transreality matter into your body. Lotor was protected by his sincline ship, but you went in unprotected. When Lotor saved you it somehow bonded the two of you mentally and physically. Anyway, I suspect that whatever you absorbed was a power in relation to the Ancients. The people who helped build the universe from nothing, there is so little known about them, but I am sure about this. When you returned home you wanted nothing more than to dance in the rain, so a rain storm appeared, unfortunately you channeled your connection to the space between, and it gained control over you."

I thought about Orinata's voice ringing in my head. Who ever Orinata was clearly still had an advantage, over me. They had drawn him back to the space between.

"Fortunately because of your bond with Lotor we were able to will the rain again, but this time you being in control of it, and that was how we got you back," Coran said beaming, understandable, he just figured out world's beyond what I would have ever thought.

"Thank you for your help Coran, we can talk about this more soon, right now I need rest," I said, Coran nodded, said his farewells and cut the video feed.

"Sleep well Lance, I am going to go, I don't particularly enjoy the idea of waking up to your screams," Pidge said untangling herself from my arm, she planted a quick kiss on my cheek before running out the room leaving me in silence with Lotor.

"You have to understand, he approached me, swearing he wouldn't tell anyone, and he hasn't yet, well minus Pidge, but that was due to the urgency of the situation. I know you trust him, so I chose to trust him too, clearly that trust was well placed because he helped me save you," Lotor said, I was facing away from him.

Pidge was right, if I let myself be reasonable I couldn't be mad.

"With Coran's help we learned so much more about Orinata, we can still stop them, we have leads to follow now, we need to figure out who these ancients really were," Lotor said placing a hand on my shoulder. I didn't shrug him off. I was too busy contemplating. "But we don't have to think about any of that right now, we both entered the space between briefly, it was terrifying for me, and I doubt it was pleasant for you either. Let us rest for now, it's what I need," Lotor said, there was defeat in his voice, and it made my heart tighten, the worst was knowing I was responsible for the defeat in his voice, The sadness and light fear could be attributed to the space between adn Orinata, but the defeat, no, that was me.

I rolled over to face him, "Lotor, I am sorry, I was being irrational. We had so little control over our lives in the space between I may have enjoyed my control here too much. Thank you, for saving me, you brought me out of there, I sure am wracking up quite the debt to you."

He reached out for cup my chin, my breath caught, "you owe me nothing, you have done so much for me and I just feel lucky enough to be in your life still."

I loved Keith, I loved Keith so much, I knew that, I felt that, but there was something else between Lotor and I. It was impossible to explain, a chemistry unlike anything else, and of course the fact that we were physically and mentally connected. The space between fostered our relationship. Of course we had cuddled, grown close, and even kissed. We could never bring ourselves past grinding onto one another, I was after all, in love with someone in the real world. Though maybe it could be said that I didn't leave all my feelings for Lotor in the space between.

In this moment, in this moment of recovery I let myself go, I brought my lips to Lotor's, who welcomed mine. It had been awhile since we last kissed, but that didn't change the way we melted into one another. He pulled away despite my whines and pulled me into his chest, he rested his chin on top of my head.

"We can't do that anymore," he says, the sad tone hollowing me out. I could feel his pain.

"Sometimes I wish it could just be you and I again," I saw barely audible, it felt like a betrayal to everyone else I loved.

"No you don't," he said in response kissing the top of my head.

"I do, I can't deny the fact that I love you too," I said, it was the first time I had ever said those words to him, but I knew they were real.

"Lance, don't say that," he said, I could feel him trembling in my arms.

"I am not lying," I said, I wasn't, I loved Lotor, it was different than my love for Keith and even of my other paladins and my family.

"I know you aren't, but you can't say it," he said. "Being with Keith, it makes you glow, being with me we only remind each other of the pain we went through."

"That isn't true-"

"Lance, don't say it again," Lotor said sharply cutting me off short. "We both need to rest, close your eyes."

The pain began to lick at my back, I whined lightly at it, but it intensified with every second. I was screaming, trying to compensate for the way every part of body felt like it was exploding into a million bits.

Fingers danced on my forehead and chest.

_Breath, Lance, it's just a nightmare,_ Lotor's welcoming words, I tried to lull myself down, tried to remind myself the pain was only in my dream.

_Lance, I love you too,_ I never usually opened my eyes until the pain was completely gone, but this time I couldn't help it. My eyes popped open to see his glassy blue eyes staring into mine.

My eyes caught sight of my Altean marks glowing, was I blushing or something? No, what was that? In the corner of my eye? A glowing blue line on my shoulder was disappearing.

"The pain… it's not all fake, I am really feeling it," I said slow, as I watched the marks fade away. "I thought I was dreaming it."

Lotor's eyes darkened, "Orinata couldn't let us escape so easily from the space between, your sacrifice to bring us here was this."

"Why didn't you tell me? You knew I thought it was just a dream," I said.

"Ignorance is bliss," Lotor said.

"Is that why you didn't want me to say those words?" I say remembering what it was that jolted me out my recovery.

"It would be easier if I could pretend you only had feelings for him," Lotor said resting his forehead against mine. I couldn't bring myself to say anything, he was right, it was easier to pretend.

"I-I love you both...but for different reasons, I am not sure even I understand it, but I know that I love you," I said, tucking my head into him. Just like I used to, in the space between, he had always been so warm, he had always been so comforting. In fact, my biggest fear with Keith is that Keith wouldn't know what do with my damaged self, my night terrors, my brokenness.

"Lance, focus, we can't, you can't, it just this- look, he is your happiness, let him be. I will follow you to the ends of the universe to make sure you are safe, and I am okay with that. You gave me a second chance, you brought me to where I am now, you rescued me from myself and from the space between. I have all the happiness I need," Lotor said, but even I knew it wasn't true, the happiness part at least. But I chose not to say anything else, I didn't want to put him in anymore pain, he didn't deserve that.

"Okay," I said, I didn't know what else to say.

"The dreams, do they really hurt?" his voice whispered into my ear, his voice, so warm, so velvety. I internally shook my head, stop, it won't be healthy for anyone for me to keep thinking about him like this.

"No," I lied, the dreams, they felt like someone was taking every atom in my body and pulling it another direction. Fortunately, no real physical damage could ever be seen.

"Are you lying to me?" he asked, I chose not to say anything, letting him figure it out on his own. "As soon as we find Orinata, I will rip them apart with my bare hands."

I chuckled lightly into him, while it was humorous, I couldn't help but agree. Orinata hadn't always been in the space between, or maybe they had, I wasn't sure how it worked, but some time after the whole Honerva thing we met Orinata. Sort of. A feeling like we were being watched, like someone was constantly near us. Then a voice that would slip into our consciousness or the feeling of being pinched. The longer we had spent there, the worse their attacks on us became. I never understood why but it always seemed to take a harsher toll on my body. I always seemed to be the one trembling, shaking, screaming, the one being tortured, tormented, and ripped apart. Lotor experienced some of the pain, but I was Orinata's target.

"Why doe they want me?" I asked, finally pulling myself from my thoughts.

"I don't know, but when I was in the space between earlier, they told me that they no longer had use for me after I saved you. I don't know what it meant, do you remember anything from me saving you?"

"I thought I was dead, and suddenly an angel was carrying me," I whispered, Lotor nudged me slightly, thinking I was flirting with him, but I wasn't. I really had thought that.

"We need to find out who Orinatra is, and follow the leads of the ancients. You know my mother and father defied reality with quintessence, but I have never, ever seen anyone will it to rain before, you altered reality, that is incredible," Lotor said, he was staring at the ceiling now.

"We will, all in time, we are both exhausted, I can feel it. Orinatra pulled from both of us," I said brushing hair out of his face. He grabbed my hand and kissed it.

"Stop being so strong around me. I have seen the real you for so long that I appreciate the vulnerable Lance, please," he said, drifting his eyes over to mine. We had both been vulnerable there, why wouldn't we be? Coming back to our reality, it has forced me to put walls up, I don't want the others to see the torture I had been through.

"I will try."

Several days had gone by on Earth, I had spent a great amount of time with my family. Fortunately the guest house was just far enough away from the main house, my family didn't have to hear my screams. Veronica and Pidge explained they were just really bad nightmares, which in a way they were. No one except Lotor needed to know what was really happening in them.

Seeing everyone's bright faces made my days so much better. I could touch them, see them, feel them. It was like sensory overload, from having watched through a picture frame in the space between. The best part, I felt happy. Genuinely happy. I wasn't sure when the last time I had felt this good was.

"Keith is landing today, I am going to the Garrison to pick him up, we should be back in time for the funeral," Pidge said, she had been following me like a puppy for the past few days, constantly afraid that the incident with the ocean was going to happen again, fortunately it had not, and I was working twice as hard not to unconsciously summon a rain storm.

She gave me a big hug before heading out, I knew this day was going to be hard for the both of us. I had seen how close she had grown to Abuela, which only made it harder to say goodbye. Abuela touched so many lives, it wasn't fair to see her go, but then again it wasn't fair to make her stay. I tried to find the balance in it all.

"Mijo," I turned to see my mom, she was standing with her arms wide and a black flowing dress, the winds caught it and blew it gracefully in the wind.

"Mom," I said, pushing myself into her arms, we had spent a few together, mostly quiet, her running her fingers over my Altean marks in awe and disbelief.

"How are you?" she asked, and I laughed, too many people asked that. It was nice to see everyone care, but it felt more like they weren't sure what to ask someone who had been dead for ten years so they went with that. I couldn't blame them though, it made sense, I walked around with a permanent melancholy strapped to my back that dampened every conversation and moment.

"Mama, I am happy, happier than I have been in well ten years," I said, but the gentle frown didn't leave her lips, see, melancholy it followed him.

"Mijo, you were in so much pain there, you are still in pain huh?" she said rubbing my back gently, fortunately none of the wounds there still hurt, just scars to remind me of my many injuries. Though my mom knew me well. Even though this was the happiest I had been in years, I still wasn't Lance happy. I was still trying to fit into the shell of the old Lance, the happy, optimistic, humorous, always smiling Lance. I couldn't be that Lance. Not anymore. People change right?

"Mama, I am trying," I whispered to her.

"I know mijo, but don't try too hard, you went through something, and it changed you, for better or worse you must embrace it. I guess you were just always too bright for this world huh? The universe needed to take some of the brightness back so it could keep giving life," she always knew the right thing to say didn't she? I cried into her a shoulder for a bit, her words, they echoed Abuela's when she talked about Abuelo.

"Come, let us find Pop-pop," she said, wrapping her arm firmly around mine and guiding me towards the garden. Sure enough Papa was there, picking white ginger lilies.

"Mariposas," I sighed catching Papa's attention, he stood a handful gathered in his arms, tear tracks staining his face. He moved to wipe they away at seeing me, he always put on a brave face in front of the kids.

"Lance, mijo," he said reaching out with his free hand to hold my cheek, mariposas, were Abuela's favorite, they reminded her of Cuba, and Papa spent years finding the perfect soil combination for them to grow here.

"Pop-pop, lo siento," I said plucking one of the lilies and tucking it into his shirt pocket, when Abuelo passed he wore one in his shirt pocket, I could still remember. He took one of the lilies and tucked it behind my ear, brushing my longer and curlier hair out of my face.

"Don't be sorry, she was waiting for you, and I-I missed you so much," Papa said before pulling me into a tight hug, Mama joined, she couldn't help it, there was too much love.

"I wish I had more time with her," I whispered to both of them, the both nodded solemnly, they always knew how close I was too Abuela, she was the one who took me to the beach daily, letting me dive into the sparkling water and gather seashells. She would tell me stories and tell me of the great things I would do in the future. She always knew what to say, and always knew what I needed to hear.

"Mijo, she will always be here," Mom said, wiping the tears away.

"In las mariposas, en las olas, en nuestros corazones," Papa said. Yes, in the mariposas, the waves, and our hearts, she would always be. "She was the one who first called you nuestro mar."

Our sea. I had heard the story a hundred times, but when I was born and she saw my eyes, the only thing she could say was nuestro mar, it was why my parents names Lance Delmar McClain, Delmar meaning from the sea.

"Pop-pop, I miss her," I said, and no one responded, because no one needed too, we all missed her, we missed her so much.

"She always knew you would come back, it's why she stayed alive, she stayed alive for you," the voice surprised him, it was Luis.

"She was the light in our darkest storms, we all stopped believing her, can you believe that, we stopped believing in Abuela," Rachel's voice.

"I guess always listen to your elders still stands true, she kept hope even when we all lost it," that was Marco.

"I still remember telling her, having to tell her you were dead, and she simply said no and walked away, that spiteful woman," Veronica.

I turned to see them all standing there waiting to join the hug, and of course we all opened our arms to them. I missed them, every single one of them. I wished it had just been ten years I was gone, because the eternity I was gone was heart wrenching. I never thought I was going to get a hug from my family again, but I guess the universe didn't _always_ have it out for me.

We took time sharing stories about Abuela, good, bad, and of course spiteful, she loved a good laugh. Then papa and I placed flowers on everyone, shirt pocket for Luis, hair for Marco, Rachel, and Roni. Mama let Roni and I braid her hair, placing flowers into it. I missed this. I felt tears pool in my eyes, as I couldn't help think about how much I had missed.

"Lance," Roni said, helping me up and leading me away from the garden. She pulled me into a hug, "Shh, it's alright, you may have lost time, but that isn't anything you can't make up."

Damn she was a mind reader. But that is what scared me more, what if...what if all of this, is just for a few more months? I knew the truth about Orinata, I was going to have to put a stop to them and their plans. What if I didn't live past that. I hadn't ever even let myself think the thoughts aloud yet, but it had been hanging in his stomach. What if all of this, what if it is all for naught?

Roni only pulled tighter, not knowing my thoughts, but knowing that I needed an escape from them.

"Roni the universe hates me, and everyone I touch," I said, into her short hair that tickled my nose.

"Entropy. Lance, as you order the universe, the more disorder that returns," she echoed into my head. Entropy. Entropy. Entropy.


End file.
